Fig. 6A–B.

(A) Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms readily proliferate on PMMA bone cement and vancomycin-loaded PMMA bone cement. Even high-dose vancomycin loading does not prevent biofilm formation after initial burst release, although it tends to increase experimental variability. This outcome may be related to inconsistent elution of small amounts of entrapped antibiotic. (B) Various species were added to PMMA bone cement to evaluate antibiofilm activity. Eighty-eight-hour time points are shown. Neither of the vancomycin-acrylamides were effective. Both VPA(3400) and PEG(3000)-acrylate reduced adherent organisms with respect to PMMA. These observations suggest ethylene glycol functionalities are largely responsible for the observed antibiofilm properties in this assay.