Nanoporous anodic alumina reduces Staphylococcus biofilm formation

Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus, two bacterial strains commonly associated with biofilm-related medical infections and food poisoning, can rapidly colonize biotic and abiotic surfaces. The present study investigates the ability of anodic alumina surfaces with nanoporous surface topography to minimize the attachment and biofilm formation mediated by these pathogenic bacterial strains. Early attachment and subsequent biofilm development were retarded on surfaces with nanopores of 15-25 nm in diameter compared to surfaces with 50-100 nm pore diameter and nanosmooth surfaces. After 30 min of incubation in nutritive media, the biomass accumulation per unit surface area was 2·93 ± 1·72 µm³  µm^-2 for the 15 nm, 3·49 ± 1·97 µm³  µm^-2 for the 25 nm, as compared to 14·04 ± 6·39 µm³  µm^-2 for the nanosmooth, 11·88 ± 9·72 µm³  µm^-2 for the 50 nm and 12·09 ± 11·84 µm³  µm^-2 for the 100 nm surfaces respectively. These findings suggest that anodic alumina with small size nanoscale pores could reduce the incidence of staphylococcal biofilms and infections, and shows promise as a material for a variety of medical applications and food contact surfaces. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This paper reports on a simple, robust and scientifically sound method to reduce attachment and biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis to abiotic surfaces using a carefully designed nanoscale topography. This approach can help to reduce the incidence of staphylococcal biofilms and infections without imposing selective stresses on bacteria, thus preventing the creation of resistant strains.