ABSTRACT

In the era of antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial polymers represent state of the art innovation evolved to fight biofilm-associated infections. In the present study, novel self-disinfecting polyurethane (PU) catheter materials were developed. Gamma radiation-induced graft copolymerization was used to functionalize PU using acrylic acid-co-glycidyl methacrylate (AAc/GMA) binary comonomer. The grafted PU, PU-g-(AAc-co-GMA), was subsequently modified by covalent immobilization of cefepime and/or wet in-situ intermatrix synthesis of ZnO (NPs) to produce PU-g-(AAc-co-GMA)/cefepime, PU-g-(AA-co-GMA-cefepime/ZnO and PU-g-(AAc-co-GMA)/ZnO nanocomposites, respectively. Modified polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Finally, the antibacterial and antibiofilm characteristics were evaluated against five multidrug-resistant (MDR) clinical bacterial isolates; including Gram-positive and Gram-negative microorganisms. FTIR confirmed the successful grafting and subsequent immobilization of cefepime. Formation of ZnO was verified by EDX analysis, while XRD analysis revealed the crystalline nature of ZnO NPs with a size range of 43–62 nm. Moreover, SEM showed the morphology, particle size and distribution of ZnO NPs within the prepared nanocomposites. The modified PU catheter nancomposites with or without cefepime showed excellent antibacterial and anti-biofilm characteristics. The prepared polymeric biocides could be potential candidates in medical care to combat biofilm formation on biomaterials.

摘要

在抗生素抗性时代，抗微生物聚合物代表了与生物膜相关的感染抗争的最新技术创新。在本研究中，开发了新型的自消毒聚氨酯（PU）导管材料。γ辐射诱导的接枝共聚用于使用丙烯酸-甲基丙烯酸缩水甘油酯（AAc / GMA）二元共聚单体官能化PU。接枝的PU，PU-g-（AAc-co-GMA）随后通过头孢吡肟的共价固定和/或原位湿法改性制备的纳米复合材料中ZnO NPs的粒径和分布。带有或不带有头孢吡肟的改性PU导管纳米复合材料均具有出色的抗菌和生物膜特性。制备的聚合物杀生物剂可能是在医疗领域对抗生物材料上生物膜形成的潜在候选物。