12-06-2014, 12:59 PM
Nanomaterials
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There has been growing interest in the use of nanomaterials featuring potent biocompatibility together with added facet of antibacterial activity, particularly against the drug-resistant tuberculosis. It still remains a challenge for the researchers to develop an efficient nanocomposite possessing biocompatibility, biodegradability and antibacterial efficacy against such deadly bacterial species posing serious challenges for the human survival. In addressing the trio act at the bio-interface concern, multimodal nanocomposite may act efficiently in inhibiting bacterial adhesion onto the biocompatible and biodegradable materials. We thus report the fabrication of novel bio-based hyperbranched poly(ester amide)
(HBPEA)/microwave functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotube (f-MWCNT) nanocomposites as an antibacterial, biocompatible and biodegradable material. In this study, the nanocomposites were fabricated by incorporation of varied weight percentages (1, 2.5, 5
wt%) of the f-MWCNT into HBPEA by an ex-situpolymerizationtechnique. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the structural changes upon interaction of the f-
MWCNT with HBPEA. The formation of thermosetting nanocomposites resulted acceptable improvement of desired properties including mechanical property instrumental for providing mechanical integrity to the cultured cells. The nanocomposite films were found to be biocompatible substrate for the in vitro adhesion and proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), with enhanced cell viability to correlate to increased f-MWCNT content. The antibacterial results, monitored by CFU count and protein concentration, demonstrated that the prepared nanocomposites were more toxic towards Gram positive bacteria and Mycobacterium smegmatisthan the Gram negative ones. The mechanism of the bacterial cell apoptosis provided an insight of the interaction of the nanocomposites at the bio-interface, which was further supported by the UV-Visible spectroscopy and SEM study.
Thus these microporous nanocomposite films possessing concurrent lethal activity against thebacterial cells and biocompatibility with PBMC may find potential application in the tissue engineering and biomedical implants.