Tuned apatitic materials: Synthesis, characterization and potential antimicrobial applications

Abstract

Inorganic antimicrobial materials can be viable for multiple applications (related to its use for new buildings with special requirements related to microbiological loading, such as hospital buildings and for consolidation of cultural heritage constructions); also the use of substituted hydroxyapatites for protection of stone artefacts against environmental factors (acidic rain) and biodeterioration it’s an option to no longer use of toxic substances. This paper presents methods of synthesis and characterization of the material from the point of view of the obtained structures and final applications. The materials were characterized in terms of composition and morphology (using X-ray Diffraction, X-ray Fluorescence, Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Surface area and pore size determination). Antimicrobial activity was tested against filamentous fungi strains and pathogenic bacteria strains, using both spot on lawn qualitative method (on agar medium) and serial microdilution quantitative method (in broth medium). Further, it was evaluated the anti-biofilm activity of the tested samples toward the most important microbial strains implicated in biofilm development, using crystal violet stained biofilms microtiter assay, followed by spectrophotometric quantitative evaluation.