Abstract
Modern medicine is still struggling to find new and more effective methods for fighting off viruses, bacteria and fungi. Among the most dangerous and at times life-threatening fungi is Candida albicans. Our work is focused on surface and structural characterization of hydroxyapatite, silver doped hydroxyapatite and zinc doped hydroxyapatite deposited on a titanium substrate previously coated with polydimethylsiloxane (HAp-PDMS, Ag:HAp-PDMS, Zn:HAp-PDMS) by different techniques: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy (GDOES) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The morphological studies revealed that the use of the PDMS polymer as an interlayer improves the quality of the coatings. The structural characterizations of the thin films revealed the basic constituents of both apatitic and PDMS structure. In addition, the GD depth profiles indicated the formation of a composite material as well as the successful embedding of the HAp, Zn:HAp and Ag:HAp into the polymer. On the other hand, in vitro evaluation of the antifungal properties of Ag:HAp-PDMS and Zn:HAp-PDMS demonstrated the fungicidal effects of Ag:HAp-PDMS and the potential antifungal effect of Zn:HAp-PDMS composite layers against C. albicans biofilm. The results acquired in this research complete previous research on the potential use of new complex materials produced by nanotechnology in biomedicine.
Highlights
In an era when science and technology have reached a point when the impossible was transformed into reality, when cars learn to drive themselves and intelligent robots learn how to walk as human beings and to interpret human emotions, the medical field is still struggling to find new and more effective methods for fighting off viruses, bacteria and fungi
As a result of the fact that titanium-based implants could potentially be responsible C. albicans for infections [40,41], our studies presented in this work may bring new specific information on the interactions between fungal cells and complex layers
The results presented in this paper were focused on evaluation of the antifungal activity of different surfaces (Ti, PDMS, HAp-PDMS, Zn:HAp-PDMS and Ag:HAp-PDMS) against C. albicans on biofilm development
Summary
In an era when science and technology have reached a point when the impossible was transformed into reality, when cars learn to drive themselves and intelligent robots learn how to walk as human beings and to interpret human emotions, the medical field is still struggling to find new and more effective methods for fighting off viruses, bacteria and fungi. Polymers 2016, 8, 131 most frequently encountered cause of systemic infections acquired from hospitals [1,4,5]. This was possible due to the increasing resistance to antibiotics of different types of fungi and due to the limited number of antifungal drugs. According to Samaranayake et al [6] infections caused by Candida species are associated to biofilm growth. In this context, it is imperative to find new solutions for fighting off the infections caused by this fungus
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