title: The impact of structure dimensions on initial bacterial adhesion.
abstract: Substrate topography can have profound effects on initial bacterial adhesion during biofilm formation. We applied Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli cells onto periodically structured substrates with different structure dimensions, structure types and wetting properties. We found a strong dependence of cell retention on the structure dimensions of the applied substrates. Periodicities in the range of the cell size increased, whereas smaller periodicities decreased cell retention, independent of contact time (minutes to hours) and hydrophobicity. These novel insights on the role of surface topography on bacterial retention might facilitate the development of non-fouling surfaces in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biofunctional Polymer Materials - Max Bergman Center of Biomaterials, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research, Hohe Straße 6, D-01069 Dresden, Germany. helbig@ipfdd.de.
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Helbig
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Günther
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Friedrichs
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rößler
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lasagni
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Werner
mesh_terms: D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D018441:Biofilms; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000502:physiology*; D017155:Wettability