Facet-dependent antibacterial activity of Au nanocrystals

Engineered nanomaterials have attracted significantly attention as one of the most promising antimicrobial agents for against multidrug resistant infections. The toxicological responses of nanomaterials are closely related to their physicochemical properties, and establishment of a structure-activity relationship for nanomaterials at the nano-bio interface is of great significance for deep understanding antibacterial toxicity mechanisms of nanomaterials and designing safer antibacterial nanomaterials. In this study, the antibacterial behaviors of well-defined crystallographic facets of a series of Au nanocrystals, including {100}-facet cubes, {110}-facet rhombic dodecahedra, {111}-facet octahedra, {221}-facet trisoctahedra and {720}-facet concave cubes, was investigated, using the model bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. We find that Au nanocrystals display substantial facet-dependent antibacterial activities. The low-index facets of cubes, octahedra, and rhombic dodecahedra show considerable antibacterial activity, whereas the high-index facets of trisoctahedra and concave cubes remained inert under biological conditions. This result is in stark contrast to the previous paradigm that the high-index facets were considered to have higher bioactivity as compared with low-index facets. The antibacterial mechanism studies have shown that the facet-dependent antibacterial behaviors of Au nanocrystals are mainly caused by differential bacterial membrane damage as well as inhibition of cellular enzymatic activity and energy metabolism. The faceted Au nanocrystals are unique in that they do not induce generation of reactive oxygen species, as validated for most antibiotics and antimicrobial nanostructures. Our findings may provide a deeper understanding of facet-dependent toxicological responses and suggest the complexities of the nanomaterial-cell interactions, shedding some light on the development of high performance Au nanomaterials-based antibacterial therapeutics.     

Polyethylene compounds with antimicrobial surface properties

The present study aims at antimicrobial polyethylene surfaces. To achieve this, LLDPE was compounded with the polymeric biocide poly(2-tert-butylaminoethyl) methacrylate TBAM (bulk modification with 1.5-5.0 wt.% of TBAM). Surfaces of these polymer compounds were then subjected to microbial assays. Using standard methods the colony forming units (CFU) for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were determined on these surfaces. In all cases, polyethylene surfaces with highly antimicrobial properties were achieved. An average reduction of 10⁴ CFU ml⁻¹ compared to neat LLDPE was achieved. The surfaces of these LLDPE/TBAM compounds were assessed by electrokinetic (zeta potential) measurements. The results indicate a relation between the antimicrobial activity and the zeta-potential of the polymer compounds. Moreover, the antimicrobial compounds were investigated towards biofilm formation. Compared to pristine LLDPE, the surfaces of the polymer compounds showed less adhering biofilm after a testing period of 16 weeks.     

Cecropin B抗菌肽接枝丝素蛋白膜的制备和表征

以体积分数为60%的乙醇处理制得不溶性再生丝素膜, 通过碳二亚胺法将Cecropin B抗菌肽共价接枝到丝素膜表面, 利用红外光谱、扫描电镜、X射线能谱和抗菌性测试等手段对制得的丝素膜结构和表面特性及其抗菌性能进行了测试分析. 结果表明, Cecropin B抗菌肽成功地接枝到了丝素膜的表面, 接枝后的丝素膜水溶性低, 并具有良好、 持久的抗菌能力.     

Inhibitory study of some novel Schiff base derivatives on Staphylococcus aureus by microcalorimetry

The effect of a series of novel Schiff base compounds on Staphylococcus aureus was studied by microcalorimetric method at 37 °C The results showed that all of the organic compounds had the capacity to inhibit the growth of S. aureus in different extent. And the extent and duration of the inhibitory effect on the growth of S. aureus, judged from the rate constant (k), varied with the different structure of the Schiff base compounds. According to the power-time curves, the multiplication rate constant and inhibition ratio were calculated. The growth rate constant of S. aureus (in log phase) in the presence of Schiff base compounds decreased with the increasing of the concentrations of these compounds regularly. The experimental results revealed that the hydrophilicity of Schiff bases had a great influence on their antibacterial activity. Of these Schiff bases, the greater their hydrophilicity, the higher their antibacterial activity. The antibacterial structure-activity relationship (SAR) of Schiff base derivatives was also briefly discussed.     

载银磷酸活化剑麻基活性炭纤维的抗菌性能研究

本文利用磷酸化方法，制备各种剑麻基活性炭纤维，并利用活性炭纤维的氧化还原特性及吸附性能，在其上负载金属银，研究并比较了这些载银活性炭纤维对大肠杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌的杀灭作用，结果表明，磷酸浓度，活化方法，活化时间，纤维的比表面积等因素的均对材料的抗菌性能有一定的影响，磷酸活化的活性炭纤维表现出强的抗菌杀菌能力，高浓度磷酸活化后的纤维抗菌能力有所提高，并且抗菌能力随活化时间的延长而增加，抗菌前后纤维上负载的银未曾大量脱落，经5次抗菌试验后材料仍显示出很强的抗菌能力。     

STUDIES ON THE PREPARATION OF ZINC-CONTAINING ACTIVATED CARBON FIBERS AND THEIR ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY

1. INTRODUCTION Microbial pollution will bring about various problems in industry and other vital fields, such as causing decomposing of materials, harming people抯 health. In order to reduce these problems, new antibacterial materials have been demanded. Recently, much attention has been paid to inorganic materials including zinc oxide [1~4]. These inorganic antibacterial materials are now substituting for organic materials to avoid releasing noxious organic molecules harmful to humans;…     

Antibacterial activity of methylated chitosan and chitooligomer derivatives: Synthesis and structure activity relationships

The purpose of this study was to synthesize series of methylated chitosaccharide derivatives, possessing various degree of methylation, and to determine their structure activity relationship (SAR) with regard to their antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus. Chitosan polymer and chitooligomers were used as starting materials and were methylated by reaction with methyl iodide. Depending on the reaction conditions the degree of N-quaternization ranged from 0% to 74%, with varying degree of N,N-dimethylation, N-monomethylation and O-methylation. More selective N-quaternization could be obtained with protection group strategy. At pH 5.5 the chitosaccharide polymers and their methylated derivatives were active against S. aureus with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 16 to 512 μg/mL. At pH 7.2 the non-quaternized derivatives were inactive but their highly N-quaternized derivatives showed MIC as low as 8 μg/mL. The chitooligomers, as well as their derivatives, were inactive at both pH’s. The SAR studies revealed that N-quaternization was mainly responsible for the antibacterial effects at pH 7.2, whereas it did not contribute to the antibacterial activity under acidic conditions.     

Antibacterial activities of polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinyl pyridine) and poly(styrene-random-4-vinyl pyridine)

Styrene was polymerized in the presence of benzoyl peroxide (BPO) and 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO) to yield polystyrene-TEMPO (PS-TEMPO) macroinitiator. The PS-TEMPO macroinitiator with different molecular weight was reacted with 4-vinyl pyridine (4-VP) to synthesize polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (PS-b-PVP), which was then quaternized with n-octyl iodide. Antibacterial activity of the quaternized copolymers was assessed against a gram negative bacterium (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and a gram positive one (Staphylococcus aureus) by using the shake flask test method, and the results were compared with those of poly(styrene-random-4-vinyl pyridine) (P(ST-r--VP)). The quaternized copolymers inhibited greatly the growth of the bacteria, and PS-b-PVP was more active than P(ST-r-VP), which was ascribed to the fact that the content of quaternized 4-VP units on the surface of the particles of the former copolymer was higher than that corresponding to the latter one.     

Iodine-poly(2-vinylpyridine-co-styrene-co-divinylbenzene) charge transfer complexes with antibacterial activity

In this work, we have developed three different copolymers based on 2-vinylpyridine, styrene and crosslinked with divinylbenzene (10-30 mol%). The copolymers were morphologically and chemically characterized by apparent density, swelling degree, elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry and optical microscopy. The formation of iodine complexes with these copolymers was carried out by two different procedures: with solvent, or not. The influence of the copolymers structure on the capacity of anchoring iodine has been investigated. The antibacterial properties of polymeric charge transfer complexes were determined towards 10³-10⁷ cells/mL dilutions from the auxotrophic AB1157 Escherichia coli strain.     

Black fungus derived aerogel with double faced properties

Black fungus aerogel (BFA) exhibited interesting double-faced properties. Weexplored the diverse properties of each side of the black fungus in three aspects:water contact angle measurements, liquid selective absorption capacity and air pollutant adsorption abilities.