Development of Ultra Facile Antifungal and Antifouling Amphoteric Coating on Urinary Catheters via Plasma Polymerization Technique

Abstract

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections are common during hospitalization due to the formation of fungal biofilms on the indwelling devices. In this study, we examined an ultra facile single- step plasma polymerization-based approach for the phosphite functionalization of urinary catheters (UC) with antifouling zwitterionic moieties to prevent biofilm formation. The modified catheters were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transformed infrared (ATR-FTIR) analysis. Contact angle and protein adsorption measurements, as well as in-vitro tests with C. parapsilosis, C. albicans, and C. krusei, were performed. This modification has reduced biofilm formation approximately 52%, 55%, and 43%, respectively, when compared to that of unmodified ones (BASE-UC). This amphoteric coating did not affect the viability of normal human fibroblast cells over two days, corresponding to the extended useful life of UCs.