Antibacterial Activity and Cytocompatibility of Electrospun PLGA Scaffolds Surface-Modified by Pulsed DC Magnetron Co-Sputtering of Copper and Titanium

Abstract

Biocompatible poly(lactide-co-glycolide) scaffolds fabricated via electrospinning are having promising properties as implants for the regeneration of fast-growing tissues, which are able to degrade in the body. The hereby-presented research work investigates the surface modification of these scaffolds in order to improve antibacterial properties of this type of scaffolds, as it can increase their application possibilities in medicine. Therefore, the scaffolds were surface-modified by means of pulsed direct current magnetron co-sputtering of copper and titanium targets in an inert atmosphere of argon. In order to obtain different amounts of copper and titanium in the resulting coatings, three different surface-modified scaffold samples were produced by changing the magnetron sputtering process parameters. The success of the antibacterial properties’ improvement was tested with the methicillin-resistant bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, the resulting cell toxicity of the surface modification by copper and titanium was examined using mouse embryonic and human gingival fibroblasts. As a result, the scaffold samples surface-modified with the highest copper to titanium ratio show the best antibacterial properties and no toxicity against mouse fibroblasts, but have a toxic effect to human gingival fibroblasts. The scaffold samples with the lowest copper to titanium ratio display no antibacterial effect and toxicity. The optimal poly(lactide-co-glycolide) scaffold sample is surface-modified with a medium ratio of copper and titanium that has antibacterial properties and is non-toxic to both cell cultures.

Electrospun PCL Filtration Membranes Enhanced with an Electrosprayed Lignin Coating to Control Wettability and Anti-Bacterial Properties

“…While the results indicate that lignin could indeed be further developed for antifouling applications and in filtration media, some performance gaps remain. Clearly, the antibacterial performance is considerably lower than other traditional mainstream options, such as, for example, the Ag nanocoating by magnetron sputtering, reported in recent literature by many and also by our group in the context of innovative nanocoatings [ 15 , 60 ]. However, key advantages of the proposed lignin-based antifouling coating strategy vs. Ag nanocoatings would include the following: (i) virtually no limitations in terms of scalability; (ii) semi-continuous manufacturing at ambient pressure in roll-to-roll mode; (iii) replacement of a metal-oxide coating by a biopolymer coating, which is more environmentally friendly and a definite advantage in the pervasive framework of circular economy.…”

An Antimicrobial Copper–Plastic Composite Coating: Characterization and In Situ Study in a Hospital Environment

“…It has been shown previously that the antibacterial properties of metal surfaces, such as copper, significantly depend on the wetting of these surfaces with aqueous media [17,22,41]. Several factors affect this dependence.…”

Characterization of Copper(II) and Zinc(II) Complexes of Peptides Mimicking the CuZnSOD Enzyme

“…In several cases, heparin-binding motifs [ 33 ], as well as peptide sequences of endogenous proteins [ 34 , 35 , 36 ], matrix proteins [ 37 ], growth factors [ 38 ], and histidine-rich glycoproteins [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ] have been shown to have antimicrobial activity, and are thus classical peptides and proteins of innate immunity. It is worth noting that there are other ways to prevent bacteria growth on surfaces, like polymeric coating or metal ions, on the surface [ 48 , 49 ]. These competitive systems are also important because the use of human-type peptides carries the risk of resistance.…”