Covalent Immobilization of Furanone Derivatives for the Inhibition of Biofilm Formation on Implant Surfaces

A biofilm is essentially composed of microbial cells attached to a surface and completely covered with an extracellular polymeric matrix produced by biofilm forming bacteria. Uncontrollable and undesirable accumulation of cell aggregates constitute serious problems in industrial processes and biomedical applications. There is a growing demand towards developing strategies to remove and protect the surfaces against biofilm formation. Natural and synthetic furanone compounds have been found to interfere with Quorum Sensing (QS) mechanism of many human pathogens and block this specific pathway. The aim of this study was to prevent biofilm formation on surfaces, especially medically important surfaces, through application of furanone derived coating material. Thus, the strategy for the present study was covalently linking furanone derivatives on surfaces to assess the effect of the immobilized furanone molecules on the adhesion strength of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) biofilms. Results show that high molecular weight of Poly Acrylic Acid (PAA) has been increasing surface area of substrate and coated samples contain slightly higher number of cells compared to attached cells on stainless steel substrate. 76% of reduction has been found when furanone coated sample compared with 4-azidoaniline hydrochloride (AZA) coated substrate and 87% of reduction has been found when furanone coated sample treated with tobramycin compared to tobramycin treated AZA coated substrate. Therefore it can be said that covalently bound furanone molecules strongly inhibits attachment of P. aeruginosa on steel substrate.