Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine (2019) 30:77 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-019-6281-3 BIOMATERIALS SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION Original Research Effect of biomaterials hydrophobicity and roughness on biofilm development Iker De-la-Pinta 1 ● Mónica Cobos 2 ● Julen Ibarretxe 3 ● Elizabeth Montoya 4 ● Elena Eraso 1 ● Teresa Guraya 5 ● Guillermo Quindós 1 Received: 9 April 2019 / Accepted: 10 June 2019 / Published online: 19 June 2019 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Most hospitalized patients are carriers of biomedical devices. Infections associated with these devices cause great morbidity and mortality, especially in patients in intensive care units. Numerous strategies have been designed to prevent biofilm development on biodevices. However, biofilm formation is a complex process not fully clarified. In the current study, roughness and hydrophobicity of different biomaterials was analyzed to assess their influences on the biofilm formation of four leading etiological causes of healthcare-associated infections, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida albicans, using a CDC biofilm reactor. Hydrophobic materials allowed the formation of more abundant and profuse biofilms. Roughness had effect on biofilm formation, but its influence was not significant when material hydrophobicity was considered. Graphical Abstract 1 Introduction There were an estimated 687,000 healthcare-associated infections (HAI) in 2015 at the United States and about 72,000 hospital patients died from them during their hospitalizations [1]. In the European Union, more than 4,000,000 patients suffer from HAI every year [2]. Many HAI are related to biofilm development on biomedical devices, such as ventilator-associated pneumonia, catheter-associated urinary tract infections or surgical-site infections [3]. Teflon, titanium, polyurethane, silicone, polycarbonate or borosilicate glass are current components of medical and surgical devices colonized during HAIs [4–7]. Surface hydrophobicity and roughness of these biomaterials play important roles in the initial microbial adhesion and the subsequent biofilm formation by Staphylococcus epi- dermidis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa or * Guillermo Quindós guillermo.quindos@ehu.eus 1 Departamento de Inmunología, Microbiología y Parasitología, UFI 11/25, Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain 2 Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de Polímeros, Facultad de Química, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU, San Sebastián, Spain 3 Departamento de Física aplicada I, Escuela de Ingeniería de Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain 4 Leartiker Polymer R&D, Leartiker, Markina-Xemein, Spain 5 Departamento de Ingeniería Minera y Metalúrgica y Ciencia de los Materiales, Escuela de Ingeniería de Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain 1234567890();,: 1234567890();,: