Biocompatible polymer system development with enhanced antimicrobial properties using the additive effect of triangular silver nanoplates and curcumin

Abstract

New antimicrobial interventions are urgently required to combat rising global health and medical infection challenges. Here, an innovative antimicrobial technology, providing price competitive alternatives to antibiotics and readily integratable with currently technological systems is presented. In a design for medical plastics, where bacterial adhesion to medical packing, textiles and implants such as catheters, cannulas, and orthopaedic implants, is a growing reason for failure, triangular silver nanoplates (TSNP) and curcumin are demonstrated for surface integration on medical materials. Using polymer solvation, the TSNPs are integrated within Polycarbonate (PC), Polycaprolactone (PCL) and Polylactic acid (PLA). TSNP encapsulation method is afterwards applied for processing biopolymers such as Polylactic Acid (PLA). TSNP-incorporated materials showed a significant growth inhibition against Escherichia coli (ATCC 11775) and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) strains, where PLA-TSNP exhibited the highest antimicrobial activity. On the other hand, bacterial cellulose (BC) is a biomaterial of growing importance with a rising application spectrum for which developments which improve its properties are very significant. BC films integrated with Cur and TSNP showed an enhanced antimicrobial effect compared to films containing only TSNP, especially against the Gram-positive strain, S. aureus. Furthermore, the toxicological evaluation demonstrated the biosafety of the materials during in vitro (MRC5 lung fibroblasts) and in vivo (Caenorhabditis elegans and Danio rerio). The combination of curcumin and TSNP in the bacterial cellulose matrix provides a novel mechanism for the sustained antimicrobial action of biopolymeric thin films. This study has effectively demonstrated that integrating curcumin in production medium with ex situ TSNP incorporation leads to safe, biocompatible, antimicrobial BC films. Further studies will include the exploration of TSNP-curcumin additive mechanism and improvement of mechanical characteristics of BC materials that will potentially result in designing products suitable for various packaging and biomedical applications.