Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation present significant challenges across all economic sectors and impact human health. Prevention of bacterial adhesion is one approach to eliminate biofilm formation but the prevention approach is highly dependent on the specific application. Nonfouling polyampholyte polymers have shown promise in preventing bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation. In this study it is demonstrated that polyampholyte hydrogels, coupled with a zwitterionic crosslinker, have enhanced resistance to bacterial adhesion over alternative crosslinker molecules. More specifically, polyampholyte hydrogels are formed from [2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride (TMA) and 2-carboxyethyl acrylate (CAA) and crosslinked with carboxybetaine dimethacrylate crosslinker (CBMAX) or [N-(2-ammonio-3-(methacryloyloxy)propanoyl)-O-methacryloylserinate (Ser-Ser) zwitterionic crosslinker. Results are compared to hydrogels formed with di(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (DEGDMA) controls. The results demonstrate that thin film hydrogels on stainless steel significantly reduce bacteria adhesion of Ralstonia (R.) picketti, and bulk hydrogels have even lower levels of bacteria adhesion relative to comparable thin films. The results suggest that zwitterionic crosslinkers are necessary for complete prevention of bacteria adhesion through polymer coating approaches.
