Here we demonstrate a simple and scalable nanotexturing method for both planar (films) and nonplanar (tubes) polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) surfaces using a commercial desktop oxygen plasma etcher. The simple process can generate semiordered nanopillar structures on both tubular and planar samples with high radial and axial uniformity. We found that the resulting surfaces exhibit good in vitro bactericidal and in vivo anti-inflammatory properties. When tested against Staphylococcus aureus, the nanotextured surfaces showed significantly decreased live bacteria coverage and increased dead bacteria coverage, demonstrating significant bactericidal functionality. Moreover, the etched planar PTFE films exhibited better healing and inflammatory responses in the subcutis of C57BL/6 mice over 7 and 21 days, evidenced by a thinner inflammatory band, lower collagen deposition, and decreased macrophage infiltration. Our results suggest the possibility of using this simple process to generate large scale biomimetic nanotextured surfaces with good antibiofouling properties to enhance the functionality of many implantable and other biomedical devices.
Keywords: anti-inflammatory surface; bactericidal; implantable material; nanotexturing; nonplanar etching; plasma etching.