Effects of disordered hemispherical micropatterns on Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm formation

Surfaces which have physical patterns in the scale of bacteria cells have been shown to influence the microorganism's adhesion and biofilm formation characteristics. Layer-by-layer self-assembly was utilized to create disordered hemispherical patterns on poly(dimethylsiloxane) with a feature size of 0.5 microm, 1.0 microm and 2.0 microm. The effects of pattern size on the retention and biofilm formation of Staphylococcus epidermidis were examined as a function of culture time. The 1.0 microm pattern significantly reduced biofilm surface coverage by approximately 30% after 5 h of culture in comparison to that on an unpatterned surface while the effect of the 0.5 and 2.0 microm patterns was negligible. On the 1.0 microm surface, bacteria initially adhered on the unpatterned areas of the disordered surface and subsequently developed into biofilms by spreading across the unpatterned areas while avoiding those covered by the pattern. The results suggest that the size of surface patterns is an important factor in altering bacteria adhesion and biofilm formation characteristics.