Bacterial infection and colonisation of polymeric biomaterials represents a major
problem that is on the rise within the health care industry. Bacterial attachment and
biofilm formation on medical polymers is often the cause of addition discomfort, pain
and in the worse case scenario sepsis and even mortality. This, in combination to the
overuse of antibiotics and evolution of resistant bacterial stains, means there is a need
for a more intelligent approach in the prevention of biofilm formation and bacterial
infection.In this work, the antimicrobial properties of metals (in particular silver and zinc) was
utilized and incorporated into polymeric biomaterial to render them antimicrobial.
Several methods of functionalising polymers with antimicrobial metals were assessed.
The materials developed throughout this work were designed to respond to changes in
environmental as a result of infection. These changes include differences in pH and
temperature all of which are altered in response to infection. This smart design allows
for the reduction of unnecessary release of antimicrobial, and will reduce the
likelihood of toxicity and resistance. Polymer modifications in this research include
modifications made during polymer synthesis, i.e. reaction with additional
antimicrobial monomer. In this case, pH responsive zinc containing crosslinker
molecule was designed to crosslink into any polymeric material. Post synthesis
modifications were also investigated, and include the ‘grafting to’ and ‘grafting from’
of polymers which could then be functionalised with antimicrobial metals. This work
demonstrated methods to modify non-woven polypropylene. A system, for the
‘grafting from’ approach to give a pH responsive release of antimicrobial metals from
a polymer brush was investigated. Secondly a ‘grafting to’ approach to give a
temperature responsive release of metals was investigated. Finally, several zinc
compounds were synthesised and assessed for there ability to graft via plasma assisted
grafting.
The results presented in this work demonstrate novel ways of incorporating
antimicrobial metal functionality into polymeric biomaterials and their antimicrobial
efficacy.
Date of Award | 1 Oct 2011 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | |
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Supervisor | Toby Jenkins (Supervisor) |
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Metal functionalised polymeric biomaterials and their antimicrobial efficacy
James, C. (Author). 1 Oct 2011
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › PhD