ATTACHMENT OF BACTERIA TO MODEL SOLID-SURFACES - OLIGO(ETHYLENE GLYCOL) SURFACES INHIBIT BACTERIAL ATTACHMENT

Bacterial cell attachment to the surfaces of self-assembled monolayers formed by the adsorption of omega-substituted alkanethiols on transpa rent gold films has been studied under defined bacterial culture and f low conditions. Phase contrast microscopy was used to quantify the att achment of two organisms, one of medical (Staphylococcus epidermidis) and one of marine (Deleya marina) importance. Self-assembled monolayer s terminated with hexa(ethylene glycol), methyl, carboxylic acid and f luorocarbon groups were investigated. Over the range of experimental c onditions, self-assembled monolayers formed from HS(CH2)(11)(OCH2CH2)( 6)OH were found to be uniformly resistant to bacterial attachment, wit h a 99.7% reduction of attachment for both organisms when compared to the most fouled surface for each organism. On other surfaces, S. epide rmidis and D. marina were shown to exhibit very different attachment r esponses to the wettability of the substratum. While the attachment of S. epidermidis correlated positively with surface hydrophilicity, D. marina showed a preference for hydrophobic surfaces. This study sugges ts that surfaces incorporating high densities of oligo(ethylene glycol ) are good candidates for surfaces that interact minimally with bacter ia.