1 research outputs found
Unexpected Bactericidal Activity of Poly(arginine)/Hyaluronan Nanolayered Coatings
The number of nosocomial
infections related to implants and medical
devices increase alarmingly worldwide. New strategies based on the
design of antimicrobial coatings are required to prevent such infections.
Polyelectrolyte “multilayer” films constitute a powerful
tool for nanoscale surface functionalization which allows addressing
this issue. By investigating films built up with poly(arginine) (PAR)
of various chain lengths (10, 30, 100, and 200 residues) and hyaluronic
acid (HA), we demonstrate that exclusively films constructed with
poly(arginine) composed of 30 residues (PAR30) acquire a strong antimicrobial
activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria
associated with infections of medical devices. This chain-size effect
is extremely striking and is the first example reported where the
length of the polyelectrolytes played a key-role in the functionality
of the films. Moreover, this unexpected functionality of nanolayered
polypeptide/polysaccharide PAR30/HA films occurs without adding any
specific antimicrobial agent, such as antibiotics or antimicrobial
peptides. PAR30/HA film inhibits bacteria through a contact-killing
mechanism due to the presence of mobile PAR30 chains. These chains
are assumed to diffuse toward the interface, where they interact with
the bacteria with the consequence of killing them. This new coating
with unique properties based on the association of a homopolypeptide
of 30 residues with a polysaccharide constitutes a simple system to
prevent implant-related infections with a reasonable production cost