Antibacterial Coatings for Improving the Performance of Biomaterials

Biomedical devices have become essential in the health care. Every day, an enormous number of these devices are used or implanted in humans. In this context, the bacterial contamination that could be developed in implanted devices is critical since it is estimated that infections kill more people than other medical causes. Commonly, these infections are treated with antibiotics, but the biofilm formation on implant surfaces could significantly reduce the effectiveness of these antibiotics since bacteria inside the biofilm is protected from the drug. In some cases, a complete removal of the implant is necessary in order to overcome the infection. In this context, antibacterial coatings are considered an excellent strategy to avoid biofilm formation and, therefore, mitigate the derived complications. In this review, the main biomaterials used in biomedical devices, the mechanism of biofilm formation, and the main strategies for the development of antibacterial coatings, are reviewed. Finally, the main polymer-based strategies to develop antibacterial coatings are summarized, with the aim of these coatings being to avoid the bacteria proliferation by controlling the antibacterial mechanisms involved and enhancing long-term stability.This research was funded by Basque Government (ELKARTEK, FRONTIERS), by the Department of Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Country, and by i+Med S. Coop. J. A-O thanks Basque Government for “Program of Industrial Doctorates. Bikaintek 2018” (exp number: 01-AF-W2-2018-00002). V. S. M thanks the funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 795417