Decisive Role of Polymer-BSA Interactions in Biofilm Substrates on Philicity and EPS Composition

Formation of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) is a crucial step for bacterial biofilm growth. Dependence of EPS composition on the growth substrate and the conditioning of the latter is thus of primary importance. Here, we present results of studies on the growth of biofilms of two different strains each, of the Gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, on four polymers used commonly in indwelling medical devices - Polyethene, Polypropylene, Polycarbonate, and Polytetrafluoroethylene immersed in Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) for 24 hrs. The polymer substrates are studied before and after immersing in BSA for 9 hrs and 24 hrs, using contact angle measurement (CAM) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) to extract, respectively, the philicity (defined as{phi} {equiv} sin ({theta}-90{degrees}), where{theta} is contact angle of the liquid on the solid at a particular temperature and ambient pressure) and spatial Hirsch parameter H (defined from the relation, F(r) ~ r2H, where F(r) is the mean squared density fluctuation at the sample surface). H =, 0.5 signifies no correlation, anti-correlation, and correlation, respectively. The substrates are seen to transform from large hydrophobicity to near amphiphilicity with the formation of BSA conditioning surface layer, and the H-values distinguish the length scales of ~ 100 nm, 500 nm, and 2000 nm, with the anti-correlation increasing with length scale. Biofilms grown on the BSA-covered surfaces are studied with CAM, FE-SEM, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). Most notably, the{phi} -values are independent of the bacterial species and strain but dependent on the polymer, as is also shown strikingly by both types of spectra, while H-values show some bacterial variation. Thus, the EPS composition and consequently the wetting properties of the corresponding bacterial biofilms seems to be decided by the interaction of the conditioning BSA layer with a specific polymer used as the growth substrate.