Effects of Sterilization Methods on the Integrity and Functionality of Covalent Mucin Coatings on Medical Devices

Recent advances in the field of biomedical materials have demonstrated that covalent mucin coatings generated on polymeric materials have the potential to greatly improve the surface properties of medical devices such as their wettability, lubricity, and resistance toward biofouling. For such biopolymer-based coatings to be used in a medical application, sterilization of the coated devices is mandatory. However, common sterilization methods such as autoclavation, ethylene oxide fumigation, as well as γ- or ultraviolet-irradiation, create harsh conditions during the device treatment, and this might compromise the structural integrity and thus functionality of macromolecular coatings. Here, it is demonstrated that covalent mucin coatings generated on medical devices made from polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, or polydimethylsiloxane are able to withstand such treatments—albeit to different extents. Among all treatments tested, ethylene oxide fumigation is identified as the most promising method as it maintains the coatings the best. The findings imply that the beneficial properties demonstrated for mucin coatings in vitro should indeed be transferable to applications in vivo.