Bioinstructive polymer fibre mats to reduce bacterial pathogen colonisation

Healthcare associated infections are widely reported to cost the European economy alone over £20 billion per year and cause an estimated extra 25 million hospital days considerably increasing patient morbidity and mortality. Implanted medical devices have previously been developed without the consideration of their potential to harbour pathogens at their surface, and this has resulted in many devices that suffer from bacterial biofilm colonisation and fibrotic foreign body responses that cause inflammation and inhibit wound healing. Here we report the development of a fibrous bioinstructive co-polymer mat that reduces biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus by 84% and 59% respectively compared to poly(lactic acid) fibres. The fibres also promote proliferation of fibroblast cells by 2.2-fold over 3 days compared to 1.2-fold for poly(lactic acid) samples, showing that the fibres promote a wound healing environment. Through the development of new materials for bioinstructive meshes, this work aims to develop new materials that can be used for surgical meshes that can prevent infections without the need for antimicrobials or toxic leaching compounds.