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Lookup NU author(s): Maria Cassa, Dr Piergiorgio GentileORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© 2024 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Bacterial colonization and biofilm formation on medical devices represent one of the most urgent and critical challenges in modern healthcare. These issues not only pose serious threats to patient health by increasing the risk of infections but also exert a considerable economic burden on national healthcare systems due to prolonged hospital stays and additional treatments. To address this challenge, there is a need for smart, customized biomaterials for medical device fabrication, particularly through the development of surface modification strategies that prevent bacterial adhesion and the growth of mature biofilms. This review explores three bioinspired approaches through which antibacterial and antiadhesive coatings can be engineered to exhibit smart, stimuli-responsive features. This responsiveness is greatly valuable as it provides the coatings with a controlled, on-demand antibacterial response that is activated only in the presence of bacteria, functioning as self-defensive coatings. Such coatings can be designed to release antibacterial agents or change their surface properties/conformation in response to specific stimuli, like changes in pH, temperature, or the presence of bacterial enzymes. This targeted approach minimizes the risk of developing antibiotic resistance and reduces the need for continuous, high-dose antibacterial treatments, thereby preserving the natural microbiome and further reducing healthcare costs. The final part of the review reports a critical analysis highlighting the potential improvements and future evolutions regarding antimicrobial self-defensive coatings and their validation.
Author(s): Cassa MA, Gentile P, Giron-Hernandez J, Ciardelli G, Carmagnola I
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Biomaterials Science
Year: 2024
Volume: 12
Issue: 21
Pages: 5433-5449
Print publication date: 07/11/2024
Online publication date: 25/09/2024
Acceptance date: 07/09/2024
ISSN (print): 2047-4830
ISSN (electronic): 2047-4849
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
URL: https://doi.org/10.1039/d4bm00936c
DOI: 10.1039/d4bm00936c
PubMed id: 39320148
Data Access Statement: No primary research results, software or code have been included and no new data were generated or analysed as part of this review.
