Metal–organic
frameworks (MOFs) can be applied in biology and medicine as drug delivery
systems by carrying drugs on their surfaces or releasing bioactive
ligands. To investigate the therapeutic potential of hydrogels that
contain MOFs, three MOFs containing glutarate and 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene
ligands were synthesized by the previously reported hydrothermal or
solvothermal reactions: Cu-MOF 1, Co-MOF 2, and Zn-MOF 3. Bioactive MOF-embedded hydrogels (hydrogel@Cu-MOF 1, hydrogel@Co-MOF 2, and hydrogel@Zn-MOF 3) were prepared by UV light-mediated thiol–ene photopolymerization
using diacrylated polyethylene glycol (PEG), 4-arm-thiolated PEG,
and MOFs. The activities of the MOF-embedded hydrogels were tested
against the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli and the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. These MOF-embedded hydrogels were observed to be very stable, based
on the release test of MII ions, and both hydrogel@Cu-MOF 1 and hydrogel@Co-MOF 2 showed excellent antibacterial
activity. Although, in human dermal fibroblasts, hydrogel@Cu-MOF 1 showed no cytotoxic effects, it exhibited 99.9% antibacterial
effects at the minimum bactericidal concentration. Physical properties
such as the surface area and dimension of MOFs with different central
metals appeared to be more important than the chemical properties
of the ligands in determining the effects on bacteria. These MOF-embedded
hydrogels may be useful in antibacterial applications such as cosmetics,
treatment of skin diseases, and drug delivery owing to their low cytotoxicity
and high bactericidal activity.
Cu-MOFs containing glutarates and bipyridyl ligands exhibited excellent antibacterial activities against five kinds of bacteria with very low MBCs although they are structurally very stable in aqueous medium during antibacterial activity tests.
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