Adhesion force of staphylococcus aureus on various biomaterial surfaces

Fahad Alam, Kantesh Balani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

68 Scopus citations

Abstract

Staphylococcus comprises of more than half of all pathogens in orthopedic implant infections and they can cause major bone infection which can result in destruction of joint and bone. In the current study, adhesion force of bacteria on the surface of various biomaterial surfaces is measured using atomic force microscope (AFM). Staphylococcus aureus was immobilized on an AFM tipless cantilever as a force probe to measure the adhesion force between bacteria and biomaterials (viz. ultra-high molecular weight poly ethylene (UHMWPE), stainless steel (SS), Ti–6Al–4V alloy, hydroxyapatite (HA)). At the contact time of 10 s, UHMWPE shows weak adhesion force (~4 nN) whereas SS showed strong adhesion force (~15 nN) due to their surface energy and surface roughness. Bacterial retention and viability experiment (3M™ petrifilm test, agar plate) dictates that hydroxyapatite shows the lowest vaibility of bacteria, whereas lowest bacterial retention is observed on UHMWPE surface. Similar results were obtained from live/dead staining test, where HA shows 65% viability, whereas on UHMWPE, SS and Ti–6Al–4V, the bacterial viability is 78%, 94% and 97%, respectively. Lower adhesion forces, constrained pull-off distance (of bacterial) and high antibacterial resistance of bioactive-HA makes it a potential biomaterial for bone-replacement arthroplasty.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)872-880
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials
Volume65
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2017
Externally publishedYes

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