A novel method for designing nanostructured polymer surfaces for reduced bacteria adhesion

Bacteria adhesion on implant surfaces is the major reason for local and systemic infections after implantation. In order to establish an anti-adhesion material, we constructed self-assembly nanostructured surfaces by wetting of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) films in ethyl acetate followed by a next step of dewetting under wet conditions. The resulting films had nanostructured surfaces with pores at nanoscale range between 200 and 500 nm. E. coli adhesion was examined on both flat spin coated and nanostructured PLGA films. The observations revealed that the bacterial adhesion onto the nanostructured surfaces was reduced in compared to the flat surfaces. Pore sizes affected the bacteria adhesion significantly. Due to its high biocompatibility and effectiveness against bacterial adhesion, these surfaces are ideal for biomedical device coatings. (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim