Antibacterial biocompatible PCL nanofibers modified by COOH-anhydride plasma polymers and gentamicin immobilization

Publication date: 5 September 2018
Source:Materials & Design, Volume 153
Author(s): Elizaveta S. Permyakova, Josef Polčak, Pavel V. Slukin, Sergei G. Ignatov, Natalia A. Gloushankova, Lenka Zajíčková, Dmitry V. Shtansky, Anton Manakhov
Herein COOH/anhydride functionalized biodegradable nanofibers were prepared using atmospheric pressure plasma copolymerization of maleic anhydride (MA) and C2H2. The XPS and ATR-FTIR analyses revealed a high concentration of carboxyl and anhydride groups that were used for grafting of gentamycin (GM) onto the surface of PCL nanofibers. It was shown that GM can be immobilized either with or without dicyclohexyl carbodiimde (DCC). The immobilization without DCC led to ionic bonding (PCL-MA-GMi), whereas the immobilization using DCC activation resulted in covalent bonding (PCL-MA-GMc). The investigation of IAR2 epithelial cell adhesion and proliferation revealed that the GM-loaded nanofibers were biocompatible. The nanofibers without immobilized GM did not show any noticeable antibacterial activity against E. coli bacteria with different resistance to gentamicin. In contrast, the size of inhibition zone around the PCL-MA-GMi and PCL-MA-GMc samples reached 27 mm, hereby indicating a strong antibacterial effect against all types of E. coli bacteria. The GM-loaded nanofibers also demonstrated a pronounced antibacterial effect after immersion in phosphate buffered saline at 37 °C for 24 h. Thus the results demonstrated that the proposed strategy for the preparation of antibacterial biocompatible nanofibers with relatively long-term antibacterial protection has a great potential for future application for wound healing.

Graphical abstract

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