Residence time dependent desorption of Staphylococcus epidermidis from hydrophobic and hydrophilic substrata

Adhesion and desorption are simultaneous events during bacterial adhesion to surfaces, although desorption is far less studied than adhesion. Here, desorption of Staphylococcus epidermidis from substratum surfaces is demonstrated to be residence time dependent. Initial desorption rate coefficients were similar for hydrophilic and hydrophobic dimethyldichlorosilane (DDS)-coated glass, likely because initial desorption is controlled by attractive Lifshitz–Van der Waals interactions, which are comparable on both substratum surfaces. However, significantly slower decay times of the desorption rate coefficients are found for hydrophilic glass than for hydrophobic DDS-coated glass. This difference is suggested to be due to the acid–base interactions between staphylococci and these surfaces, which are repulsive on hydrophilic glass and attractive on hydrophobic DDS-coated glass. Final desorption rate coefficients are higher on hydrophilic glass than on hydrophobic DDS-coated glass, due to the so called hydrophobic effect, facilitating a closer contact on hydrophobic DDS-coated glass.