Thermo-detachable anti-biofilm polymer coatings

描述(由申请人提供)：防止生物膜的形成和有效地从牙科单位输水管(DUWL)中去除现有的生物膜对于保持牙科治疗水的质量以控制感染至关重要。已经开发了几种物理和化学方法以及自动清洁系统来控制DUWL中生物膜的形成和输出水质；然而，这些方法的长期效果仍然值得怀疑，而且发现其中一些方法存在不利影响。因此，迫切需要开发防止生物膜形成和去除残留生物膜的新方法，以实现对DUWL中生物膜和出水水质的高效控制。在这项研究中，一种新的设计概念被提出，灵感来自于我们自己的身体对胃肠道中有害微生物的防御机制，即用具有双重功能的聚合物材料来修饰材料表面，以控制生物膜的形成，同时促进生物膜的去除。中心假设是，通过按需剥离抗菌和可热分离的聚合物涂层，可以有效地控制生物膜的形成和去除。抗菌聚合物将通过涂层聚合物和表面之间的可热裂解连接物被涂层在水管的内表面上。连接剂基于热可逆的Diels-Alder化学：共价键在室温至600℃形成，并在较高温度(&gt；900℃)裂解，允许涂层在低温下将聚合物锚定在表面上，并使用热水或蒸汽去除涂层。这种聚合物将通过杀死附着在表面的细菌来防止或延缓生物膜的形成。一旦在长时间使用后形成生物膜，用热水或蒸汽加热涂层就会断裂连接，涂层将从表面分离。涂层上的生物膜将与分离的聚合物一起被冲洗掉。生物膜去除后，清洁的表面将再次被热可拆卸的聚合物涂层，该过程可以重复多次。为了验证这一假设，提出了两个具体的目标：(1)开发可热分离的抗菌涂层；(2)评估聚合物涂层上的生物膜生长和生物膜去除。这种新的涂层设计是创新的，因为这些涂层将防止或延迟生物膜的形成，并有效地去除形成的生物膜，这种设计将允许通过冲洗热水/蒸汽来清洁DUWL的管道和连接器的内表面，这可以在不打开管道系统和使用化学品的情况下完成。用我们的聚合物重新涂覆内表面还将提供一种新鲜的抗菌和可拆卸涂层，这将大大延长DUWL的寿命。这一新的设计概念经过必要的修改后，还将在其他医疗和工业系统中找到潜在的应用，例如医疗设备和植入物、牙科治疗仪器、水冷却塔和市政供水系统，在这些系统中，生物膜的形成非常令人担忧，很难去除。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Preventing biofilm formation and removing existing biofilms effectively from dental unit water lines (DUWLs) are crucial to maintaining the quality of dental treatment water for infection control. Several physical and chemical approaches and automatic cleaning systems have been developed to control biofilm formation and output water quality in DUWLs; however, the long-term effect of these approaches is still in doubt, and adverse effects are found to be associated with some of these approaches. Therefore, there is a great need to develop novel approaches for preventing biofilm formation and removing resident biofilms in order to achieve highly effective control of biofilms and output water quality in DUWLs. In this study, a new design concept, inspired by the defense mechanisms employed by our own body against harmful microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract, is proposed to create material surfaces modified with polymeric materials that have dual functionalities to control biofilm formation as well as to facilitate removal of biofilms. The central hypothesis is that biofilm formation and removal can be effectively controlled by on-demand detachment of antimicrobial and thermo- detachable polymer coatings. Antimicrobial polymers will be coated on interior surfaces of water tubing by thermally cleavable linkers between the coating polymers and surface. The linkers are based on the thermally reversible Diels-Alder chemistry: the covalent bond is formed at room temperature to 600C and cleaved at higher temperatures (> 900C), allowing annealing the coatings to anchor the polymers onto surfaces at low temperatures and removing the coatings using hot water or steam vapor. The polymers will prevent or delay biofilm formation by killing bacteria adhered to the surface. Once biofilms are formed after extended periods of use, heating the coating by hot water or steam vapor cleaves the linkages, and the coatings will be detached from the surface. The biofilms on the coatings will be flushed out together with the detached polymers. After biofilm removal, the clean surface will be coated again by the thermally detachable polymers, and the process can be repeated multiple times. To test the hypothesis, two specific aims are proposed: (1) to develop the thermo-detachable antimicrobial coatings and (2) to evaluate biofilm growth and biofilm removal on the polymer coatings. This new coating design is innovative because these coatings will prevent or delay biofilm formation as well as remove formed biofilms efficiently, and this design will allow cleaning inner surfaces of tubing and connectors of DUWLs by flushing hot water/steam vapor, which can be completed without opening tubing systems and the use of chemicals. Recoating the interior surfaces with our polymers will also offer a fresh antimicrobial and detachable coating, which will extend the lifetime of DUWLs substantially. This novel design concept with necessary modifications would also find potential applications in other medical and industrial systems such as medical devices and implants, dental treatment instruments, water-cooling towers, and municipal water systems, where biofilm formation are of significant concern and difficult to remove.