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. 2025 Apr 14:18:1881-1893.
doi: 10.2147/IDR.S509957. eCollection 2025.

Developing a Urinary Catheter with Anti-Biofilm Coated Surface Using Phyto-Assisted Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Reham M Goda #  1 , Ibrahim A Maghrabi  2 , Mohamed F El-Badawy #  3 , Ahmed M Kabel  4 , Alaa A Omar  5 , Rasha M El-Morsi  1 , Heba A Ramadan  1 , Mohamed M Shohayeb  1
Affiliations

Developing a Urinary Catheter with Anti-Biofilm Coated Surface Using Phyto-Assisted Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Reham M Goda et al. Infect Drug Resist. .

Abstract

Background: Biofilm-related infections represent one of the major challenging health problems that enhances antimicrobial resistance with subsequent treatment failure of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs).

Aim: This study aimed to employ and comprehensively characterize the use of nanoparticles to inhibit bacterial biofilm formation. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) are considered one of the most important biofilm inhibitors.

Methods: The current study aimed to characterize the influence of the bioreductive green synthesis of ZnO-NPs using pomegranate peel extract on bacterial colonization to protect against urinary catheter infections. ZnO-NPs were investigated for their physicochemical properties using UV, FTIR, Dynamic light scattering, and TEM. Catheters were coated with ZnO-NPs using Pistacia lentiscus (mastic), and the slow release of free zinc ions (Zn+2) from, the ZnO-NPs-coated catheters, was evaluated using the ICP-AES technique.

Results: The current study revealed that catheter coated by ZnO-NPs exhibited a sustained antibiofilm activity against biofilm-forming and antibiotic-resistant clinical isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains.

Conclusion: The present study supports the efficiency of ZnO-NPs as a good candidate for prevention of biofilm formation.

Keywords: bacterial colonization; biofilm; catheter associated infection; urinary catheters; zinc oxide nanoparticles.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic illustration of ZnO-NPs green synthesis using pomegranate peel extract.
Figure 2
Figure 2
UV-Vis spectral analysis of synthesized ZnO-NPs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Particle size distribution (average mean diameter) measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS) for the synthesized ZnO-NPs (A). Zeta potential of the synthesized ZnO-NPs (B).
Figure 4
Figure 4
TEM micrographs of the synthesized ZnO-NP.
Figure 5
Figure 5
FTIR spectra of pomegranate extract (black), zinc sulphate ZnSO4.7H2O (blue) and ZnO-NPs (red).
Figure 6
Figure 6
The inhibitory effect of ZnO-NPs on Klebsiella pneumoniae (A) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (B) by cup-plate method. The inhibitory effect of catheter pieces coated by f ZnO-NPs on K. pneumoniae (C) and S. epidermidis (D).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) for bacterial colonization of control catheters (A and C) and catheters varnished with mastic and ZnO-NPs (B and D), after 48h impregnation in tryptic soya broth inoculated with 105 CFU mL-1 of Staphylococcus aureus (A and B) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (C and D).
Figure 8
Figure 8
The release of Zn2+ from ZnO-NPs-coated catheters.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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