Candida Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Candida, including details on thrush infections, yeast, diet, treatment, symptoms.

Synthesis and characterization of surface-grafted polyacrylamide brushes and their inhibition of microbial adhesion.

Cringus-Fundeanu I, Luijten J, van der Mei HC, Busscher HJ, Schouten AJ

Department of Polymer Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.

A method is presented to prevent microbial adhesion to solid surfaces exploiting the unique properties of polymer brushes. Polyacrylamide (PAAm) brushes were grown from silicon wafers by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using a three-step reaction procedure consisting of immobilization of a coupling agent gamma-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, anchoring of an ATRP initiator 4-(chloromethyl)benzoyl chloride, and controlled radical polymerization of acrylamide. The surfaces were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and contact-angle measurements. The calculated grafting density pointed to the presence of a dense and homogeneous polymer brush. Initial deposition rates, adhesion after 4 h, and detachment of two bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 12600 and Streptococcus salivarius GB 24/9) and one yeast strain (Candida albicans GB 1/2) to both PAAm-coated and untreated silicon surfaces were investigated in a parallel plate flow chamber. A high reduction (70-92%) in microbial adhesion to the surface-grafted PAAm brush was observed, as compared with untreated silicon surfaces. Application of the proposed grafting method to silicone rubbers may offer great potential to prevent biomaterials-centered infection of implants.

Published 17 April 2007 in Langmuir, 23(9): 5120-6.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Candida Research Today. All Rights Reserved.