Title
Antimicrobial activity of poly(ester urea) electrospun fibers loaded with bacteriophages
Date Issued
01 June 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Díaz A.
Rodrigo N.
Casas M.T.
Chumburidze G.
Katsarava R.
Puiggalí J.
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Publisher(s)
MDPI Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Abstract
The capacity to load bacteriophages into electrospun nanofibers of two representative biocompatible polymers has been evaluated, paying special attention to the possibility of preserving their antibacterial activity. Specifically, the work involves the following steps: (a) Evaluation of the effect of the applied electrical field on the phage activity; (b) evaluation of the activity when a lyophilization process could be avoided by using water soluble polymers (e.g., poly(ethylene glycol); (c) evaluation of the activity when dissolution of the polymer requires an organic solvent and lyophilization is theoretically necessary. In this case, a poly(ester urea) (PEU) derived from the natural L-leucine amino acid has been considered. Adsorption of commercial bacteriophage preparations into calcium carbonate particles was demonstrated to be a promising methodology to avoid lyophilization and keep the initial bactericide activity at a maximum. Phagestaph and Fersis bacteriophage commercial preparations have been selected for this study due to their specific activity against Staphylococci (e.g., S. aureus) and Streptococci (e.g., S. pyogenes) bacteria. Adhesion and proliferation assays using epithelial cells demonstrated the biocompatibility of both unloaded and bacteriophage-loaded PEU scaffolds, although some slight differences were observed depending on the type of bacteriophage and the selected preparation methodology.
Volume
6
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería química Ciencia de los polímeros
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85050307132
Source
Fibers
ISSN of the container
20796439
Sponsor(s)
Acknowledgments: The authors are in debt to support from MINECO and FEDER (MAT2015-69547-R) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR188). R.K. thanks the SRNSF of Georgia for the financial support (Grant # AR-307-7-250-11).
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus