title: Incorporation of T4 bacteriophage in electrospun fibres.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Antibacterial food packaging materials, such as bacteriophage-activated electrospun fibrous mats, may address concerns triggered by waves of bacterial food contamination. To address this, we investigated several efficient methods for incorporating T4 bacteriophage into electrospun fibrous mats.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The incorporation of T4 bacteriophage using simple suspension electrospinning led to more than five orders of magnitude decrease in bacteriophage activity. To better maintain bacteriophage viability, emulsion electrospinning was developed where the T4 bacteriophage was pre-encapsulated in an alginate reservoir via an emulsification process and subsequently electrospun into fibres. This resulted in an increase in bacteriophage viability, but there was still two orders of magnitude drop in activity. Using a coaxial electrospinning process, full bacteriophage activity could be maintained. In this process, a core/shell fibre structure was formed with the T4 bacteriophage being directly incorporated into the fibre core. The core/shell fibre encapsulated bacteriophage exhibited full bacteriophage viability after storing for several weeks at +4°C.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coaxial electrospinning was shown to be capable of encapsulating bacteriophages with high loading capacity, high viability and long storage time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results are significant in the context of controlling and preventing bacterial infections in perishable foods during storage.
authors: Wood Science Department, Forest Sciences Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Korehei
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Kadla
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry; D017122:Bacteriophage T4; D004655:Emulsions / Q000737:chemistry; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control; D005516:Food Microbiology; D018857:Food Packaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005524:Food Technology / Q000379:methods*; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D010948:Viral Plaque Assay
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D004655:Emulsions; D011108:Polymers