Shirbin Steven J, Lam Shu J, Chan Nicholas Jun-An, Ozmen Mehmet Murat, Fu Qiang, O'Brien-Simpson Neil, Reynolds Eric C, Qiao Greg G
Polymer Science Group, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Department of Bioengineering, Yildiz Technical University, Esenler, 34220, Istanbul, Turkey.
ACS Macro Lett. 2016 May 17;5(5):552-557. doi: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.6b00174. Epub 2016 Apr 11.
Synthetic polypeptide-based macroporous cryogels with inherent antimicrobial properties were prepared for potential water purification applications. Gels were chemically cross-linked through the amine residue of a polycationic polylysine--polyvaline block copolymer with glutaraldehyde as cross-linker under cryogenic conditions. These cryogels exhibited excellent water swelling and highly compressible mechanical properties owing to their macroporous structure. The antibacterial performance was evaluated based on viability, with cryogels exhibiting up to 95.6% reduction in viable after a brief 1 h incubation. In comparison to the hydrogel control, the presence of macropores is shown to be vital to the antimicrobial effect of the gels. The confined environment and increased antimicrobial surface area of the macropores is believed to result in a "trap and kill" mechanism. Mechanical strength and pore integrity of cryogels were also found to be determinants for antibacterial activity. Along with the lack of toxic leaching, these cryogels with inherent antimicrobial properties pose as potential candidates for use in biological and environmentally friendly water purification applications.
制备了具有固有抗菌性能的基于合成多肽的大孔冷冻凝胶，用于潜在的水净化应用。在低温条件下，以戊二醛为交联剂，通过聚阳离子聚赖氨酸-聚缬氨酸嵌段共聚物的胺残基进行化学交联制备凝胶。由于其大孔结构，这些冷冻凝胶表现出优异的水溶胀性和高压缩性机械性能。基于存活率评估抗菌性能，冷冻凝胶在短暂孵育1小时后，活菌数量最多可减少95.6%。与水凝胶对照相比，大孔的存在对凝胶的抗菌效果至关重要。大孔的受限环境和增加的抗菌表面积被认为导致了“捕获并杀死”机制。还发现冷冻凝胶的机械强度和孔完整性是抗菌活性的决定因素。除了没有有毒浸出物外，这些具有固有抗菌性能的冷冻凝胶有望成为生物和环境友好型水净化应用的潜在候选材料。
