The field of bioinert materials is relatively mature, as unique molecular designs for antifouling have been regularly presented over the past 30 years. However, the effect of steam sterilization, a common procedure in hospitals for sterilizing biomedical devices in clinical uses, on the stability of antifouling and hemocompatible biomaterials remains unexplored. The only available set of data indicates that poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (SBMA) is unstable and loses its antifouling properties when exposed to hot humid air, depriving it of its attractiveness. Here, we present zwitterionic biomaterial gels of poly(4-vinylpyridine propylsulfobetaine) (4VPPS) and explore their propensity to biofouling before and after a 1 h steam sterilization at 121 °C. After incubation with erythrocytes, leukocytes, thrombocytes, whole blood, or various bacteria ( Escherichia coli, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia), the antifouling properties of unsterilized 4VPPS gels are comparable to those of SBMA gels. Importantly, they are maintained after steam sterilization, unlike those of SBMA gels, which shows that the structure of 4VPPS and the interactions with water remain unaffected by the humid heat treatment. The antifouling properties of gels coated on materials mimicking surfaces used in biomedical devices including stainless steel (surgical knife), silicon (biochips), or titanium (electrocautery pen) are also maintained after similar sterilization. In addition, repeated sterilizations do not affect the antifouling properties of 4VPPS. Therefore, these results provide a substantial advance over the current knowledge on antifouling materials for repeated usage in actual conditions that often involve, in a biomedical environment, steam sterilization.
Keywords: antifouling; gels; hemocompatibility; poly(4-vinylpyridine propylsulfobetaine); stability; steam sterilization.