Comment on “The interaction of cells and bacteria with surfaces structured at the nanometre scale”

In a recent article in Acta Biomaterialia Anselme et al. [1] published an interesting, complete and exhaustive review of the interaction of cells and bacteria with nanostructured surfaces. In this review the authors referred to our article [2] and stated that the retention of bacteria in the grooves of the surfaces was probably due to dewetting phenomena, as the images were taken in air on dried substrates. From this affirmation the readers of the journal might infer that the structure of the aggregates and bacterial distribution are a consequence of capillary forces acting during sample drying. It is well known that dewetting forces have a strong influence on the distribution of colloids on surfaces [3] and some researchers have attempted to describe bacteria as colloidal systems [4]. However, this approach fails to explain a considerable number of cases [5]. In fact, results recently reported indicate that the adhesion of bacteria differs markedly from colloidal particles due to the presence of appendages that rearrange during adhesion until the bacteria are positioned in the energetically most favorable position [6].