Laser-Textured Surfaces: A Way to Control Biofilm Formation?
Source: BAM
Bacterial biofilms pose serious problems in medical and industrial settings. One of the major societal challenges is the increasing resistance of bacteria against biocides used in antimicrobial treatments. Hence, new efficient antibacterial strategies avoiding the use of biocides are strongly desired. One promising route to achieve bacteria-repellent surfaces lies in the contactless and aseptic large-area laser-processing of technical surfaces. Tailored surface textures, enabled by different laser-processing strategies, can result in surface structures at topographic scales ranging from tens of nanometers to several micrometers, may provide a solution to this challenge and is the subject of lively debate.
This article was written upon invitation of the journal Laser & Photonics Reviews bringing together the multidisciplinary expertise of BAM’s divisions 4.1 Biodeterioration and Reference Organisms and 6.2 Material and Surface Technologies. It presents a current state-of-the-art review of laser-surface subtractive texturing approaches for controlling biofilm formation. The most relevant laser surface processing strategies for the creation of micro-, nano-, and hierarchical micro-nano-structures are presented, followed by a survey on bacterial biofilm formation and specific bacterial characteristics responsible for surface adhesion. Exemplary surface topographies that are currently objects of intense research for their antibacterial effects are highlighted.
One of the most striving surface topographies are so-called laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) that can be generated with pulsed laser radiation at the surface on almost any material. These surface nanostructures feature spatial periods of the order of the size of bacterial cells which proved to be a powerful tool to reduce bacterial adhesion significantly. Bacteria-repellent mechanisms, however, are difficult to be generalized as the choice of bacterial test strain and the conditions applied for biofilm growth are crucial for the significance of results and must be selected carefully in view of the specific application.
This review article includes a discussion of the pros and cons of the most widely used bacterial cultivation techniques and the assessment of biofilm properties and a comprehensive overview of literature on current research dealing with bacterial adhesion on laser-generated surface structures. This will equally help physicists and microbiologists to improve design and efficacy of bacteria-repellent surface topographies.
Laser-Textured Surfaces: A Way to Control Biofilm Formation?
Karin Schwibbert, Anja M. Richter, Jörg Krüger, Jörn Bonse
erschienen in Laser & Photonics Reviews, Volume18, January 2024, Issue 1, S. 1
Department of Analytical Chemistry; Reference Materials
Material and Surface Technologies Division
Biodeterioration and Reference Organisms Division