Issue 11, 2014

Hydroxyapatite/gold/arginine: designing the structure to create antibacterial activity

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides, selective antimicrobials able to “recognize” and “target” bacterial cells, are significant advancement in comparison to non-selective antimicrobials widely used in practice. The major problem of this class of macromolecules is, however, a short half-life. Starting from the key physicochemical properties of antibacterial peptides, our intention was to develop their stable analogue. We designed hydroxyapatite/gold/arginine (HAp/Au/arginine) nanocomposite that contains: (i) hydrophobic gold (Au) nanoparticles, (b) positively charged, hydrophilic arginine molecules that functionalize the surface of the Au and (c) hydroxyapatite (HAp) bioactive carrier of the functionalized Au nanoparticles. None of the components used for the formation of the nanocomposite have any influence on bacterial growth; however, its structure with specific chemistry of the surface, which is analogous to that of antibacterial peptides, provides this property. The developed nanocomposite possesses all the beneficial properties of antibacterial peptides and is one step ahead of them as far as stability is concerned. The material follows contact-based mechanism significantly improved in comparison to metabolism-involved mechanism of antibacterial peptides. In comparison to the non-selective HAp/Ag reference, newly-developed material possesses stronger antibacterial action, is more compatible to human cells and can be suggested as safer and more effective replacement of Ag-based antibacterial components in biomaterials.

Graphical abstract: Hydroxyapatite/gold/arginine: designing the structure to create antibacterial activity

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 11 2013
Accepted
18 12 2013
First published
19 12 2013

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014,2, 1557-1564

Author version available

Hydroxyapatite/gold/arginine: designing the structure to create antibacterial activity

M. Vukomanović, M. Logar, S. D. Škapin and D. Suvorov, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014, 2, 1557 DOI: 10.1039/C3TB21612H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements