INEB-Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Divisão de Biomateriais, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Acta Biomater. 2011 Apr;7(4):1431-40. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2010.11.005. Epub 2010 Nov 5.
Bacterial adhesion to biomaterials remains a major problem in the medical devices field. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are well-known components of the innate immune system that can be applied to overcome biofilm-associated infections. Their relevance has been increasing as a practical alternative to conventional antibiotics, which are declining in effectiveness. The recent interest focused on these peptides can be explained by a group of special features, including a wide spectrum of activity, high efficacy at very low concentrations, target specificity, anti-endotoxin activity, synergistic action with classical antibiotics, and low propensity for developing resistance. Therefore, the development of an antimicrobial coating with such properties would be worthwhile. The immobilization of AMPs onto a biomaterial surface has further advantages as it also helps to circumvent AMPs' potential limitations, such as short half-life and cytotoxicity associated with higher concentrations of soluble peptides. The studies discussed in the current review report on the impact of covalent immobilization of AMPs onto surfaces through different chemical coupling strategies, length of spacers, and peptide orientation and concentration. The overall results suggest that immobilized AMPs may be effective in the prevention of biofilm formation by reduction of microorganism survival post-contact with the coated biomaterial. Minimal cytotoxicity and long-term stability profiles were obtained by optimizing immobilization parameters, indicating a promising potential for the use of immobilized AMPs in clinical applications. On the other hand, the effects of tethering on mechanisms of action of AMPs have not yet been fully elucidated. Therefore, further studies are recommended to explore the real potential of immobilized AMPs in health applications as antimicrobial coatings of medical devices.
细菌黏附在生物材料上仍然是医疗器械领域的一个主要问题。抗菌肽 (AMPs) 是先天免疫系统的已知组成部分，可用于克服生物膜相关感染。由于传统抗生素的有效性正在下降，它们作为一种实用的替代方法，其相关性越来越高。最近对这些肽的关注可以用一组特殊的特征来解释，包括广泛的活性、在非常低的浓度下的高效性、靶向特异性、抗内毒素活性、与经典抗生素的协同作用以及低耐药倾向。因此，开发具有这种特性的抗菌涂层是值得的。将 AMPs 固定在生物材料表面上还有进一步的优势，因为它还有助于规避 AMPs 的潜在局限性，例如与可溶性肽浓度较高相关的半衰期短和细胞毒性。本综述中讨论的研究报告了通过不同的化学偶联策略、间隔物长度和肽定向和浓度将 AMPs 共价固定在表面上的影响。总体结果表明，通过减少与涂层生物材料接触后的微生物存活，固定化 AMPs 可能有效预防生物膜形成。通过优化固定化参数获得了最小的细胞毒性和长期稳定性谱，表明固定化 AMPs 在临床应用中具有很大的应用潜力。另一方面，固定化对 AMPs 作用机制的影响尚未完全阐明。因此，建议进行进一步的研究，以探索固定化 AMPs 在健康应用中作为医疗器械抗菌涂层的真正潜力。
