Nanostructured Selenium for Preventing Biofilm Formation on Medical Devices
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Nanostructured Selenium for Preventing Biofilm Formation on Medical Devices Qi Wang1 and Thomas J. Webster2 1
Department of Chemistry and 2 School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI 02906, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT Biofilms are a common cause of persistent infections on medical devices as they are easy to form and hard to treat. Selenium and its compounds are considered to be a novel material for a wide range of applications including anticancer applications and antibacterial applications. The objective of this study was to coat selenium nanoparticles on the surface of polycarbonate medical devices and examine their effectiveness at preventing biofilm formation. The results of this in vitro study showed that the selenium coating significantly inhibited Staphylococcus
aureus growth on the surface of polycarbonate after 24 hours. Thus, this study suggests that coating polymers with nanostructured selenium is a fast and effective way to reduce bacteria functions leading to medical device infections. INTRODUCTION As is well known, bacteria can easily form biofilms when they attach to a medical device surface. A bacterial biofilm is an aggregate of one or more types of bacteria in a hydrated polymeric matrix.1 An implanted medical device provides a surface for bacteria to attach and multiply in the patient's body, resulting in the formation of biofilms. Once formed, the polymeric matrix works as a shield to prevent drugs from penetrating inside the biofilm. Moreover, the outer cells that break off from the biofilm can enter and attack the body, causing wide spread infections. Preventing biofilm formation is critical in the fight against healthcare-associated infections2 (or HAIs). Staphylococcus aureus is one of the bacterium commonly found in numerous infections. These infections can be serious when they occur on surgical wounds, in the bloodstream, or the in the lungs. S. aureus biofilms have been found on a wide range of medical devices including prosthetic heart valves, central venous catheters, urinary catheters, orthopedic prostheses, penile prostheses, contact lenses, endocarditis, otitis media, osteomyelitis, and sinusitis.3 These biofilms are easy to form but hard to treat. Therefore, it is significant to develop a method to prevent bacteria from attaching on the surface of today’s medical devices.
Selenium has been investigated for various medical applications such as anticancer applications.4,5 There are also studies showing that selenium or its compounds can inhibit bacteria growth6 (specifically, S. aureus) and biofilm formation7. Selenium kills bacteria by depleting their thiol levels, which is an essential part of bacteria cell function. This mechanism is significant because healthy cells are much more resilient to this effect and are unaffected by the presence of selenium in lab tests. What is more, the nanostructured selenium increases surface area available to interact with and kill bacteria, while also changing the surface morphology to ultimately prevent the attachment of bacteria. Therefore,
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