Initial adhesion and surface growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on negatively and positively charged poly(methacrylates)

The infection risk of biomaterial implants is determined by an interplay of bacterial adhesion and surface growth of the adhering organisms. In this study, we compared initial adhesion and surface growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa AK1 (zeta potential -7 mV) on negatively charged (PMMA/MAA, zeta potential -18 mV) and positively charged (PMMA/TMAEMA-Cl, zeta potential +12 mV) methacrylate copolymers in situ in a parallel plate flow chamber. Initial adhesion was measured using phosphate-buffered saline and subsequent surface growth of the adhering bacteria using nutrient broth as growth medium. Initial adhesion was twice as fast on the positively charged methacrylate than on the negatively charged copolymer. Surface growth, however, was absent on the positively charged copolymer, while on the negatively charged methacrylate the number of bacteria increased exponentially during surface growth with a generation time of 32 min. From the results of this study it can be concluded that positively charged biomaterial surfaces might show reduced risks of biomaterials-centered infections, despite being more adhesive. (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.