Photosensitizer-Embedded Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibers as Antimicrobial Non-Woven Textile.
Toward the objective of developing platform technologies for anti-infective materials based upon photodynamic inactivation, we employed electrospinning to prepare a non-woven textile comprised of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers embedded with a porphyrin-based cationic photosensitizer; termed PAN-Por(+). Photosensitizer loading was determined to be 34.8 nmol/mg material; with thermostability to 300 °C. Antibacterial efficacy was evaluated against four bacteria belonging to the ESKAPE family of pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus; vancomycin-resistantEnterococcus faecium;Acinetobacter baumannii; andKlebsiella pneumonia), as well asEscherichia coli. Our results demonstrated broad photodynamic inactivation of all bacterial strains studied upon illumination (30 min; 65 ± 5 mW/cm²; 400-700 nm) by a minimum of 99.9996+% (5.8 log units) regardless of taxonomic classification. PAN-Por(+)also inactivated human adenovirus-5 (~99.8% reduction in PFU/mL) and vesicular stomatitis virus (>7 log units reduction in PFU/mL). When compared to cellulose-based materials employing this same photosensitizer; the higher levels of photodynamic inactivation achieved here with PAN-Por(+)are likely due to the combined effects of higher photosensitizer loading and a greater surface area imparted by the use of nanofibers. These results demonstrate the potential of photosensitizer-embedded polyacrylonitrile nanofibers to serve as scalable scaffolds for anti-infective or self-sterilizing materials against both bacteria and viruses when employing a photodynamic inactivation mode of action.
Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8204, USA. slstanl2@ncsu.edu.
Sarah L
SL
Stanley
Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7614, USA. fscholl@ncsu.edu.
Frank
F
Scholle
Fiber and Polymer Science Program, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8301, USA. jzhu14@ncsu.edu.
Jiadeng
J
Zhu
Fiber and Polymer Science Program, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8301, USA. ylu14@ncsu.edu.
Yao
Y
Lu
Fiber and Polymer Science Program, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8301, USA. xzhang13@ncsu.edu.
Xiangwu
X
Zhang
Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8204, USA. xsitu1@gmail.com.
Xingci
X
Situ
Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8204, USA. reza_ghiladi@ncsu.edu.
Reza A
RA
Ghiladi
antibacterial; antiviral; photobiocidal; photodynamic inactivation; photosensitizer; polyacrylonitrile; porphyrin; singlet oxygen