title: Combining in the melt physical and biological properties of poly(caprolactone) and chlorhexidine to obtain antimicrobial surgical monofilaments.
abstract: Bacterial infections on a sutured wound represent a critical problem, and the preparation of suture threads possessing antimicrobial properties is valuable. In this work, poly(caprolactone) (PCL) monofilaments were compounded at the concentration of 1, 2 and 4 % (w/w), respectively, to the antiseptic chlorhexidine diacetate (CHX). The incorporation was carried out in the melt by a single-step methodology, i.e. "online" approach. Mechanical tests revealed that the incorporation of CHX does not significantly change tensile properties of PCL fibres as the thermal profile adopted to prepare the compounded fibres does not compromise the antibacterial activity of CHX. In fact, CHX confers to compounded PCL fibres' antimicrobial property even at the lowest CHX concentration as revealed by microbiological assays performed on Escherichia coli, Micrococcus luteus and Bacillus subtilis strains. The scanning electron microscope micrographs and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis of compounded threads revealed that CHX is uniformly distributed on fibre surface and that the overall amount of superficial CHX increases by increasing compounded CHX concentration. This distribution determines a biphasic CHX release kinetics characterized by an initial rapid solubilisation of superficial CHX micro-crystals, followed by a slow and gradual release of CHX incorporated in the bulk. Interestingly, the compounded threads did not show any toxic effect compromising cell viability of human fibroblasts in vitro, differently from that observed using an equal amount of pure CHX. Thus, this study originally demonstrated the effectiveness of an "online" approach to confer antimicrobial properties to an organic thermoplastic polymeric material commonly used for medical devices.
authors: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, Aerospaziale, dei Materiali, Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128, Palermo, Italy. roberto.scaffaro@unipa.it
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Scaffaro
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Botta
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Sanfilippo
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Gallo
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Palazzolo
authors: A M
authors: AM
authors: Puglia
mesh_terms: D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002710:Chlorhexidine / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000382:microbiology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016982:Micrococcus luteus / Q000187:drug effects; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011091:Polyesters / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D013536:Suture Techniques; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local; D011091:Polyesters; C016240:polycaprolactone; D002710:Chlorhexidine