Antimicrobial effect of gold nanoparticles in the formation of the Staphylococcus aureus biofilm on a polyethylene surface

The main of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory effect on the in vitro formation of the Staphylococcus aureus biofilm formed on a polyethylene (PE) surface with a nanostructured Gold (Au) coating for medical devices. An experimental in vitro study was carried out using PE discs with an Au nanoparticle coating (AuNPs) on one side (experimental group) and without coating on the other (control group); the discs were mounted in the CDC biofilm reactor adding broth of yeast-dextrose-peptone (YPD) sterile culture inoculated with S. aureus in a cell suspension (5 × 108 cells/ml). The specimens were evaluated at different times (6, 12, 24, 48, 72 h) and stained with the Live/Dead Bacterial Viability Kit (Invitrogen) for observation, analysis, and quantification with confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that as evaluation time passed an increasing of S. aureus biofilm formation was observed in the control group, in the experimental group, a statistically significant biofilm inhibition was observed with respect to the AuNPs uncoated specimens (p ≤ 0.05) and showed a ratio of almost 4:1 viable/nonviable in the biofilm of the uncoated surfaces, with a difference > 5 Log10 in the CFU counts. The PE with AuNP coating showed an inhibitory effect on the biofilm formation of S. aureus.