Surface coating strategies to prevent biofilm formation on implant surfaces

Implant surfaces should ideally be designed to promote the attachment of target tissue cells; at the same time, they should prevent bacterial adhesion, achievable through modification strategies comprising three lines of defense. As the first criterion, selective adhesion can be realized by means of non-adhesive coatings that can be functionalized with small peptides, thereby supporting osteogenic cell attachment for implants in bone contact but not bacterial adhesion. The second line of defense, defined by bacterial survival, quorum sensing and biofilm formation, can be addressed by various antimicrobial substances that can be leaching or non-leaching. The possibility of a third line of defense, the disruption of an established biofilm, is just emerging. Since microorganisms are quite ''ingenious'' at finding ways to overcome a certain line of defense, the most promising solution might be a combination of all these antibacterial strategies. Coating systems that allow such different approaches to be combined are scarce. However, ultrathin multifunctional NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO)-based layers may represent a promising platform for such an integrated approach.