Integrated Antimicrobial and Nonfouling Hydrogels to Inhibit the Growth of Planktonic Bacterial Cells and Keep the Surface Clean

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

A new strategy integrating antimicrobial and nonfouling/biocompatible properties is presented. A mild antimicrobial agent (salicylate) was incorporated into a carboxybetaine ester hydrogel, poly(N,N-dimethyl-N-(ethylcarbonylmethyl)-N-[2-(methacryloyloxy)-ethyl]ammonium salicylate) (pCBMA-1 C2 SA) hydrogel, as its anionic counterion. This new hydrogel provides a sustained release of antimicrobial agents to inhibit the growth of planktonic bacteria and create a nonfouling surface to prevent protein adsorption or bacterial accumulation upon the hydrolysis of carboxybetaine esters into zwitterionic groups. The pCBMA-1 C2 SA hydrogel inhibited the growth of both gram-negative Escherichia coli K12 and gram-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis by 99.9%. This hydrogel holds great potential in applications such as wound dressing and surface coatings for medical devices.