Covalent Grafting of Antifouling Phosphorylcholine-Based Copolymers with Antimicrobial Nitric Oxide Releasing Polymers to Enhance Infection-Resistant Properties of Medical Device Coatings

Medical device coatings that resist protein adhesion and bacterial contamination are highly desirable in the healthcare industry. In this work, an antifouling zwitterionic terpolymer, 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine-co-butyl methacrylate-co-benzophenone (BPMPC), is covalently grafted to a nitric oxide (NO) releasing antimicrobial biomedical grade copolymer of silicone-polycarbonate-urethane, CarboSil, to significantly enhance the biocompatibility, nonspecific protein repulsion and infection-resistant properties. The NO donor embedded into CarboSil is S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) and covalent grafting of the BPMPC is achieved through rapid UV-cross-linking, providing a stable, hydrophilic coating that has excellent durability over a period of several weeks under physiological conditions. The protein adsorption test results indicate a significant reduction (∼84–93%) of protein adhesion on the test samples compared to the control samples. Bacteria tests were also performed using the common...