Varied-shaped gold nanoparticles with nanogram killing efficiency as potential antimicrobial surface coatings for the medical devices

Ewelina Piktel,Krzysztof Fiedoruk,Tamara Daniluk,Robert Bucki,Anna Pajor-Świerzy,Karol Skłodowski,Joanna Depciuch,Sylwia Chmielewska,Magdalena Parlinska-Wojtan,Piotr Bijak,Paulina Kołat-Brodecka,Łukasz Suprewicz,Grzegorz Król

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-91847-3

Abstract

Medical device-associated infections are a serious medical threat, particularly for patients with impaired mobility and/or advanced age. Despite a variety of antimicrobial coatings for medical devices being explored to date, only a limited number have been introduced for clinical use. Research into new bactericidal agents with the ability to eradicate pathogens, limit biofilm formation, and exhibit satisfactory biocompatibility, is therefore necessary and urgent. In this study, a series of varied-morphology gold nanoparticles in shapes of rods, peanuts, stars and spherical-like, porous ones with potent antibacterial activity were synthesized and thoroughly tested against spectrum of Candida albicans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus clinical strains, as well as spectrum of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates. The optimization of gold nanoparticles synthesis allowed to develop nanomaterials, which are proved to be significantly more potent against tested microbes compared with the gold nanoformulations reported to date. Notably, their antimicrobial spectrum includes strains with different drug resistance mechanisms. Facile and cost-efficient synthesis of gold nanoparticles, remarkable bactericidal efficiency at nanogram doses, and low toxicity, underline their potential for development as a new coatings, as indicated by the example of urological catheters. The presented research fills a gap in microbial studies of non-spherical gold nanoparticles for the development of antimicrobial coatings targeting multidrug-resistant pathogens responsible for device-associated nosocomial infections.

Highlights

Medical device-associated infections are a serious medical threat, for patients with impaired mobility and/or advanced age
The morphology of the synthesized Au NPs was analyzed by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) (Fig. 1)
Using a simplified method to preliminarily quantify the viability of bacteria on the surface of the urinary catheters, we demonstrated the ability of nanorods and nanopeanuts to limit bacterial attachment to a material that is typically quite colonized by uropathogenic bacteria

Summary

Introduction

Medical device-associated infections are a serious medical threat, for patients with impaired mobility and/or advanced age. The optimization of gold nanoparticles synthesis allowed to develop nanomaterials, which are proved to be significantly more potent against tested microbes compared with the gold nanoformulations reported to date Their antimicrobial spectrum includes strains with different drug resistance mechanisms. Deviceassociated risk is primarily determined by the nature of the substances used for biomaterials fabrication, which allow for microorganism colonization and the formation of biofilms[2] For this reason, efforts have been made to improve the antibacterial and antifungal features of medical devices by coating them with substances that exhibit bactericidal and anti-biofilm properties[3]. Despite the range of developed solutions for coating of medical devices, a rate of implants-associated infections is still alarmingly high This motivated research into novel antimicrobials that exhibit antibacterial and antibiofilm properties and can be effectively used as antimicrobial coatings for medical devices. This work provides a promising starting point for further investigation into the biocidal activity of the nanoparticles against other pathogenic microorganisms, and their potential as coating of other medical devices

Methods

Results

Conclusion