title: New bactericidal surgical suture coating.
abstract: This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of a new antimicrobial suture coating. An amphiphilic polymer, poly[(aminoethyl methacrylate)-co-(butyl methacrylate)] (PAMBM), inspired by antimicrobial peptides, was bactericidal against  S. aureus  in time-kill experiments. PAMBM was then evaluated in a variety of polymer blends using the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) method and showed excellent antimicrobial activity at a low concentration (0.5 wt %). Using a similar antimicrobial coating formula to commercial Vicryl Plus sutures, disk samples of the coating material containing PAMBM effectively killed bacteria (98% reduction at 0.75 wt %). Triclosan, the active ingredient in Vicryl Plus coatings, did not kill the bacteria. Further Kirby-Bauer assays of these disk samples showed an increasing zone of inhibition with increasing concentration of PAMBM. Finally, the PAMBM-containing coating was applied to sutures, and the morphology of the coating surface was characterized by SEM, along with Vicryl and uncoated sutures. The PAMBM-containing sutures killed bacteria more effectively (3 log(10) reduction at 2.4 wt %) than Vicryl Plus sutures (0.5 log(10) reduction).
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Kushi N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dabkowski
authors.forename: Meagan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corrigan
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nüsslein
authors.forename: Gregory N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Tew
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007700:Kinetics; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D013229:Stearic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D013537:Sutures / Q000382:microbiology*; D014260:Triclosan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D011108:Polymers; D013229:Stearic Acids; C031183:stearic acid; D014260:Triclosan