Carbon Nanotube/Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Composite Materials to Reduce Bacterial Adhesion

Different studies have shown that the incorporation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) enables the production of composite materials with enhanced properties, which can find important applications in the biomedical field. In the present work, CNT/PDMS composite materials have been prepared to evaluate the effects of pristine and chemically functionalized CNT incorporation into PDMS on the composite's thermal, electrical, and surface properties on bacterial adhesion in dynamic conditions. Initial bacterial adhesion was studied using a parallel-plate flow chamber assay performed in conditions prevailing in urinary tract devices (catheters and stents) using Escherichia coli as a model organism and PDMS as a control due to its relevance in these applications. The results indicated that the introduction of the CNTs in the PDMS matrix yielded, in general, less bacterial adhesion than the PDMS alone and that the reduction could be dependent on the surface chemistry of CNTs, with less adhesion obtained on the composites with pristine rather than functionalized CNTs. It was also shown CNT pre-treatment and incorporation by different methods affected the electrical properties of the composites when compared to PDMS. Composites enabling a 60% reduction in cell adhesion were obtained by CNT treatment by ball-milling, whereas an increase in electrical conductivity of seven orders of magnitude was obtained after solvent-mediated incorporation. The results suggest even at low CNT loading values (1%), these treatments may be beneficial for the production of CNT composites with application in biomedical devices for the urinary tract and for other applications where electrical conductance is required.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2020

Erschienen:

2020

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:9

Enthalten in:

Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) - 9(2020), 8 vom: 22. Juli

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Vagos, Márcia R [VerfasserIn]
Gomes, Marisa [VerfasserIn]
Moreira, Joana M R [VerfasserIn]
Soares, Olívia S G P [VerfasserIn]
Pereira, Manuel F R [VerfasserIn]
Mergulhão, Filipe J [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Adhesion
Carbon nanotubes
Escherichia coli
Journal Article
Poly(dimethylsiloxane)

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 28.09.2020

published: Electronic

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.3390/antibiotics9080434

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM312839103