Premium
Effective control of biofilms by photothermal therapy using a gold nanorod hydrogel
Author(s) -
BermúdezJiménez Carlos,
NiñoMartínez Nereyda,
PatiñoMarín Nuria,
MartínezGutiérrez Fidel,
Ruiz Facundo,
Bach Horacio,
MartínezCastañón Gabriel
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part b: applied biomaterials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1552-4981
pISSN - 1552-4973
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.b.34392
Subject(s) - biofilm , photothermal therapy , nanorod , chitosan , microbiology and biotechnology , self healing hydrogels , bacteria , chemistry , polysaccharide , antimicrobial , antibiotics , materials science , nanotechnology , biology , biochemistry , genetics , organic chemistry
Abstract Biofilms are matrices synthesized by bacteria containing polysaccharides, DNA, and proteins. The development of biofilms in infectious processes can induce a chronic inflammatory response that may progress to the destruction of tissues. The treatment of biofilms is difficult because they serve as a bacterial mechanism of defense and high doses of antibiotics are necessary to treat these infections with limited positive results. It has been demonstrated that photothermal therapy using gold nanorods (AuNRs) is an attractive treatment because of its anti‐biofilm activity. The purpose of this work was to generate a novel chitosan‐based hydrogel embedded with AuNRs to evaluate its anti‐biofilm activity. AuNRs were synthesized by the seed‐mediated growth method and mixed with the chitosan‐based hydrogel. Hydrogels were characterized and tested against two bacterial strains by irradiating the produced biofilm in the presence of the nanoformulation with a laser adjusted at the near infrared spectrum. In addition, the safety of the nanoformulation was assessed with normal human gingival fibroblasts. Results showed that a significant bacterial killing was measured when biofilms were exposed to an increase of 10°C for a short time of 2 min. Moreover, no cytotoxicity was measured when normal gingival fibroblasts were exposed to the nanoformulation using the bactericidal conditions. The development of the reported formulation can be used as a direct application to treat periodontal diseases or biofilm‐produced bacteria that colonize the oral cavity.