Thesis
Monitoring of antimicrobial coatings and biofilm formation on in vitro model of medical implant surfaces
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2025
- Thesis identifier
- T17399
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 202075228
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Medical implant infections pose significant treatment challenges due to biofilm formation on the device surface, which is difficult to eradicate and can become antibiotic resistant. There are a range of antimicrobial strategies in use to prevent biofilm formation including development of biodegradable coatings loaded with antibiotics which enable controlled release of antibiotics to inhibit biofilm formation. This study evaluates the feasibility of utilizing Electrical Spectroscopy (ES) to non-invasively monitor medical implant-like surfaces along with polymer-antibiotic coatings for real-time monitoring of biofilm formation. ES was used to monitor PLGA-Rifampicin coating degradation on stainless steel electrodes over 6-months. A novel system was developed to allow for monitoring of coating degradation and bacterial growth within the same system, and PLGA-Rifampicin-coated stainless steel and cobalt-chrome electrodes were challenged with Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with bacterial growth and coating degradation monitored over six months. The results showed that stainless steel and cobalt-chrome electrodes could measure bacterial growth on the electrode surface, with a significant decrease in impedance at 10 Hz and 100 Hz. ES could also detect the degradation of PLGA-Rifampicin coatings over a 6-month incubation period, with noticeable decreases in the whole impedance spectra correlating to drug release and polymer degradation. The novel system developed in this study could not distinguish between bacterial growth and coating degradation, as the coating's insulating properties overshadowed bacterial impedance signals leading to 80% reduction in impedance at 10 Hz and 100 Hz for all different coating formulas with or without bacteria growth. These findings highlight the potential of ES for characterizing bacterial growth on medical devices, though a technical challenge of the coatings insulating properties needs to be further studied to help further this work. Future work could refine this technique to support the development of advanced antimicrobial strategies.
- Advisor / supervisor
- McCormick, Christopher
- Maclean, Michelle
- Resource Type
- DOI
Relations
Items
| Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Visibility | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
PDF of Thesis T17399 | 2025-08-04 | Public | Download |