Ariyadasa Sujani, Daear Weiam, Abeysekera Gayan, Billington Craig, Fee Conan, Prenner Elmar, Pang Liping
Institute of Environmental Science and Research, P.O. Box 29181, Christchurch 8540, New Zealand.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand.
Polymers (Basel). 2022 Jun 24;14(13):2571. doi: 10.3390/polym14132571.
Biopolymer microparticles have been developed for applications that require biocompatibility and biodegradability, such as drug delivery. In this study, we assessed the production of microparticles using carnauba wax, κ-carrageenan, alginate, and poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) with the aim of developing a novel, DNA-tracer-loaded, biopolymer surrogate with a size, shape, surface charge, and relative hydrophobicity similar to stationary-phase to mimic the bacteria's mobility and persistence in engineered water systems. We found that the type and concentration of biopolymer, reaction conditions, and synthesis methods affected the morphology, surface charge, relative hydrophobicity, and DNA tracer loading efficiency of the biopolymer microparticles produced. Carnauba wax, κ-carrageenan, and alginate (Protanal, and low and medium viscosity) produced highly polydisperse microspheres. In contrast, PLGA and alginate-CaCO produced uniform microspheres and rod-shaped microparticles, respectively, with high DNA tracer loading efficiencies (PLGA 70% and alginate-CaCO 95.2 ± 5.7%) and high reproducibilities. Their synthesis reproducibility was relatively high. The relative hydrophobicity of PLGA microspheres closely matched the cell surface hydrophobicity of but not the bacterial morphology, whereas the polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer assembly was required to enhance the relative hydrophobicity of alginate-CaCO microparticles. Following this surface modification, alginate-CaCO microparticles represented the best match to in size, morphology, surface charge, and relative hydrophobicity. This new biopolymer surrogate has the potential to be used as a mimic to study the mobility and persistence of in water systems where the use of the pathogen is impractical and unsafe.
生物聚合物微粒已被开发用于需要生物相容性和生物降解性的应用，如药物递送。在本研究中，我们评估了使用巴西棕榈蜡、κ-卡拉胶、海藻酸钠和聚（乳酸-乙醇酸）（PLGA）生产微粒，目的是开发一种新型的、负载DNA示踪剂的生物聚合物替代物，其尺寸、形状、表面电荷和相对疏水性与固定相相似，以模拟细菌在工程水系统中的迁移和持久性。我们发现，生物聚合物的类型和浓度、反应条件以及合成方法会影响所生产的生物聚合物微粒的形态、表面电荷、相对疏水性和DNA示踪剂负载效率。巴西棕榈蜡、κ-卡拉胶和海藻酸钠（Protanal以及低粘度和中粘度）产生高度多分散的微球。相比之下，PLGA和海藻酸钠-CaCO分别产生均匀的微球和棒状微粒，具有高DNA示踪剂负载效率（PLGA为70%，海藻酸钠-CaCO为95.2±5.7%）和高重现性。它们的合成重现性相对较高。PLGA微球的相对疏水性与细胞表面疏水性密切匹配，但与细菌形态不匹配，而需要通过聚电解质层层组装来提高海藻酸钠-CaCO微粒的相对疏水性。经过这种表面修饰后，海藻酸钠-CaCO微粒在尺寸、形态、表面电荷和相对疏水性方面与[未提及的对照物]最为匹配。这种新型生物聚合物替代物有可能用作模拟物，用于研究[未提及的病原体]在水系统中的迁移和持久性，在这些系统中使用病原体是不切实际和不安全的。
