The most common bacterial species responsible for causing catheter-associated urinary tract infection is Escherichia Coli (E. Coli). In the present work, we report an experimental investigation of plasma-induced physico-chemical changes on silicone catheter surfaces and their influence on biofilm formation by uropathogenic E. coli bacterial cells for 7 days incubation period. Catheter substrates were exposed to an oxygen plasma environment from 1 to 30 min under capacitively coupled radio frequency low-pressure discharge. Plasma-modified surfaces have been characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for surface chemistry, video contact angle goniometer for wettability and surface free energy, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy for surface morphological studies. Chemical composition of oxygen plasma has been investigated using optical emission spectroscopy. Results convey that plasma induced morphological parameters such as average surface roughness (S_a), the average distance between local peaks (S), and average slope of the morphological features (Δ_a) play dominant role over surface chemistry for reduction in bacterial colonization and biofilm formation. The effectiveness of plasma treatment was evaluated up to 30 days after plasma treatment. Results confirm that oxygen plasma-treated catheter surface is successfully able to prevent biofilm formation with maximum 99.4% reduction in bacterial adhesion for 10 min of plasma exposure. Our study suggests that oxygen plasma treatment alone can be considered as a simple and eco-friendly solution for the prevention of E. coli biofilm formation on silicone catheter surfaces without involving the use of antibiotics or any other complex coating chemistry.

导致导管相关尿路感染的最常见细菌种类是大肠杆菌（E. Coli）。在目前的工作中，我们报告了等离子体诱导的硅胶导管表面的物理化学变化及其对尿路致病性大肠杆菌生物膜形成的影响的实验研究。细菌细胞培养 7 天。在电容耦合射频低压放电下，导管基底暴露于氧等离子体环境 1 至 30 分钟。等离子体改性表面已通过用于表面化学的傅里叶变换红外光谱、用于润湿性和表面自由能的视频接触角测角仪、原子力显微镜和用于表面形态研究的扫描电子显微镜进行表征。已经使用光学发射光谱研究了氧等离子体的化学成分。结果表明等离子体诱导的形态参数，如平均表面粗糙度 ( S _a )、局部峰之间的平均距离 ( S ) 和形态特征的平均斜率 ( Δ_a ) 在减少细菌定植和生物膜形成方面，在表面化学方面起主导作用。在等离子处理后长达 30 天评估等离子处理的有效性。结果证实，氧等离子体处理的导管表面能够成功地防止生物膜形成，在 10 分钟的等离子体暴露下细菌粘附最多减少 99.4%。我们的研究表明，单独的氧等离子体处理可以被认为是一种简单且环保的解决方案，用于防止在硅胶导管表面形成大肠杆菌生物膜，而无需使用抗生素或任何其他复杂的涂层化学物质。