Abstract

Postoperative bacterial infections are one of the main reasons for unsuccessful implantation of long-term implants. The development of bacterial infection requires antibiotic therapy, in extreme cases a reimplantation procedure is necessary. In order to provide materials for implants with antibacterial properties, they are subjected to modifications to create a coating that will release the drug substance, when the inflammation occurs. Significant interest is now gained by the so-called smart polymers, that react to the stimuli from the external environment such as pH change, temperature change, the influence of UV-VIS radiation or interaction of electric and magnetic fields. When designing drug delivery systems, the characteristics of the inflamed tissue may be taken into account, because they are characterized by increased temperature and reduced pH. It would, therefore, be reasonable to create biopolymer coatings that under these conditions degrade and release the drug substance. However, the problem is the controlled release of the drug substance trapped in the biopolymer matrix. This review paper presents most often used methods of smart biopolymer coatings production, which release the drug substance in a controlled manner. Methods such as electrophoretic deposition, dip-coating, spin-coating, and layer-by-layer are discussed, including process parameters, steps of the coating production, possible post-processing and examples of smart coatings produced using these methods. Each of these methods offers a wide range of process parameters, by changing these parameters it is possible to fine-tune the properties of the coatings produced to the desired values. Extensive research is needed to determine the optimal process parameters that will allow the production of coatings with the desired properties.

Authors (3)