Plasma polymerized carvone as an antibacterial and biocompatible coating

Antibacterial coating is important to prevent the colonization of medical devices by biofilm forming bacteria that would cause infection and sepsis in patients. Current coating techniques such as immobilization of antimicrobial compounds, time-releasing antibiotic agents and silver nanoparticles, require multiple processing steps, and they have low efficacy and low stability. We proposed a single-step plasma polymerization of an essential oil known as carvone to produce a moderately hydrophobic antibacterial coating (ppCar) with an average roughness of <1nm. ppCar had a static water contact angle of 78°, even after 10days of air aging and it maintained its stability throughout 24h of LB broth immersion. ppCar showed promising results in the live-dead fluorescence assay and crystal violet assay. The biofilm assay showed an effective reduction of E. coli and S. aureus bacteria by 86% and 84% respectively. ppCar is also shown to rupture the bacteria membrane for its bactericidal effects. The cytotoxicity test indicated that the coating is not cytotoxic to the human cell line. This study would be of interest to researcher keen on producing a bacteria-resistance and biocompatible coating on different substrates in a cost-effective manner.