title: Surface functionalization by covalent immobilization of an innovative carvacrol derivative to avoid fungal biofilm formation.
abstract: Carvacrol, an aromatic terpenic compound, known to be antimicrobial was grafted onto gold surfaces via two strategies based on newly-synthesized cross-linkers involving either an ester bond which can be cleaved by microbial esterases, or a covalent ether link. Surface functionalizations were characterized at each step by reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). The two functionalized gold samples both led to a loss of culturability of the yeast Candida albicans, higher than 65%, indicating that the activity of the freshly-designed surfaces was probably due to still covalently immobilized carvacrol. On the contrary, when a phenyl group replaced the terpenic moiety, the yeast culturability increased by about 30%, highlighting the specific activity of carvacrol grafted on the surfaces. Confocal microscopy analyses showed that the mode of action of the functionalized surfaces with the ester or the ether of carvacrol was, in both cases, fungicidal and not anti-adhesive. Finally, this study shows that covalently immobilization of terpenic compounds can be used to design promising antimicrobial surfaces.
authors: Ecologie & Biologie des Interactions - UMR CNRS 7267, Microbiologie de l'eau, Université de Poitiers, 1 Rue Georges Bonnet, TSA 51106, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France.
authors: Aïcha
authors: A
authors: Gharbi
authors: UMR-CNRS 7285, Groupe Systèmes Moléculaires Programmés, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France.
authors: Thibaut
authors: T
authors: Legigan
authors: UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR CNRS 7197, Laboratoire de Réactivité de Surface, Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France.
authors: Vincent
authors: V
authors: Humblot
authors: UMR-CNRS 7285, Groupe Systèmes Moléculaires Programmés, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France.
authors: Sébastien
authors: S
authors: Papot
authors: Ecologie & Biologie des Interactions - UMR CNRS 7267, Microbiologie de l'eau, Université de Poitiers, 1 Rue Georges Bonnet, TSA 51106, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France.
authors: Jean-Marc
authors: JM
authors: Berjeaud
keywords: Antibiofilm material; Candida albicans; Carvacrol derivatives; Surface functionalization