Abstract
Reducing microbial infections associated with biomedical devices or articles/furniture noted in a hospital or outpatient clinic remains a great challenge to researchers. Due to its stability and low toxicity, the N-halamine compound has been proposed as a potential antimicrobial agent. It can be incorporated into or blended with the FDA-approved biomaterials. Surface grafting or coating of N-halamine was also reported. Nevertheless, the hydrophobic nature associated with its chemical configuration may affect the microbial interactions with the chlorinated N-halamine-containing substrate. In this study, a polymerizable N-halamine compound was synthesized and grafted onto a polyurethane surface via a surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) scheme. Further, using the sequential SI-ATRP reaction method, different hydrophilic monomers, namely poly (ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA), hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), and [2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl] dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium hydroxide (SBMA), were also grafted onto the polyurethane (PU) substrate before the N-halamine grafting reaction to change the surface properties of the N-halamine-modified substrate. It was noted that the chains containing the hydrophilic monomer and the polymerizable N-halamine compound were successfully grafted onto the PU substrate. The degree of chlorination was improved with the introduction of a hydrophilic monomer, except the HEMA. All of these hydrophilic monomer-containing N-halamine-modified PU substrates demonstrated a more than 2 log CFU reduction after microbial incubation. In contrast, the surface modified with N-halamine only exhibited significantly less antimicrobial efficacy instead. This is likely due to the synergistic effects caused by the reduced chlorine content, as well as the reduced surface interactions with the microbes.
Highlights
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are bacterial infections suffered by hospitalized patients or those receiving medical treatment in an outpatient setting
Since the chemical structure of N-halamine is intrinsically hydrophobic, substrates modified with N-halamine usually present high hydrophobicity which could lead to less optimum antimicrobial efficacy than expected
To confer proper antimicrobial properties, an N-halamine compound with a vinyl structure, 3-(4’-vinylbenzyl)-5,5-dimethylhydantoin (VBDMH), was surface grafted onto the polyurethane substrate using the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) technique
Summary
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are bacterial infections suffered by hospitalized patients or those receiving medical treatment in an outpatient setting. Due to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, HAIs increase significantly annually. The reasons for this phenomenon can be inferred from the fact that bacteria are transmitted from the hospital by the medical staff or patients themselves through the seats in the hospital, surgical clothes, or gloves, to name a few. To confer proper antimicrobial properties, an N-halamine compound with a vinyl structure, 3-(4’-vinylbenzyl)-5,5-dimethylhydantoin (VBDMH), was surface grafted onto the polyurethane substrate using the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) technique. Besides changing the surface characteristics, the incorporation of hydrophilic monomers could further enhance the antimicrobial capability of the N-halamine modified PU substrate
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