CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Biofilm are common in nature and are often associated with undesirable effects such asthe deterioration of concrete, metal corrosion, fouling of oil and gas pipelines and shipshulls, dental plaque causing tooth decay and microbial colonization of indwelling orpercutaneous medical devices, such as catheters, artificial valves, joints and stents.Nanomaterials with distinctive physicochemical properties and high surface are offeringnew alternatives for the development of antibiofilm and bactericidal surfaces.In order to get antimicrobial coatings several approaches will be described. Oneapproach consists of using a controlled release nanostructured coating, in which theantibiotic is released from the biomedical device and intercepts bacteria in the vicinity.The disadvantage of the release approach is that the duration and effectiveness ofantibacterial action is limited by loading and release kinetics.The second approach consists on the application of a molecular surface layer ofcovalently immobilized (?grafted?) molecules or on the modification of surfacenanotopography, which can prevent bacterial attachment to materials surfaces by eitherkilling bacteria or changing physicochemical characteristics of the surfaces(hidrophobicity / hidrophilicity, charge, surface free energy, nanoroughness). Inaddition, much longer, perhaps indefinite, effectiveness can be ascertained by using thisapproach.