Eco-friendly and degradable red phosphorus nanoparticles for rapid microbial sterilization under visible light

Pathogens pose a serious challenge to environmental sanitation and a threat to public health.The frequent use of chemicals for sterilization in recent years has not only caused secondary damage to the environment but also increased pathogen resistance to drugs,which further threatens public health.To address this issue,the use of non-chemical antibacterial means has become a new trend for environmental disinfection.In this study,we developed red phosphorus nanoparticles(RPNPs),a safe and degradable photosensitive material with good photocatalytic and photothermal properties.The red phosphorus nanoparticles were prepared using a template method and ultrasonication.Under the irradiation of simulated sunlight for 20 min,the RPNPs exhibited an efficiency of 99.98%in killing Staphylococcus aureus due to their excellent photocatalytic and photothermal abilities.Transmission electron microscopy and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy revealed that the RPNPs exhibited degradability within eight weeks.Both the RPNPs and their degradation products were nontoxic to fibroblast cells.Therefore,such RPNPs are expected to be used as a new type of low-cost,efficient,degradable,biocompatible,and eco-friendly photosensitive material for environmental disinfection.     

Porous agarose/Gd-hydroxyapatite composite bone fillers with promoted osteogenesis and antibacterial activity

Artificial bone fillers are essentially required for repairing bone defects, and developing the fillers with synergistic biocompatibility and anti-bacterial activity persists as one of the critical challenges. In this work, a new agarose/gadolinium-doped hydroxyapatite filler with three-dimensional porous structures was fabricated. For the composite filler, agarose provides three-dimensional skeleton and endows porosity, workability, and high specific surface area, hydroxyapatite (HA) offers the biocompatibility, and the rare earth element gadolinium (Gd) acts as the antibacterial agent. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy detection showed the doping of Gd in HA lattice with the formation of Gd-HA interstitial solid solution. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy imaging suggested chemical interactions between agarose and Gd-HA, and the physical structure of agarose was tuned by the Gd-doped HA. Cytotoxicity testing and alizarin red staining experiments using mouse pro-osteoblasts (MC3T3-E1) revealed remarkable bioactivity and osteogenic properties of the composite fillers, and proliferation and growth rates of the cells increased in proportion to Gd content in the composites. Antibacterial testing using the gram-positive bacteria S. aureus and the gram-negative bacteria E. coli indicated promising antibacterial properties of the fillers. Meanwhile, the antibacterial properties of composite filles were enhanced with the increase of Gd content. The antibacterial fillers with porous structure and excellent physicomechanical properties show inspiring potential for bone defect repair.     

Effect of nitrogen on the antibacterial behavior of oxynitride glasses

The main drawback of bioglasses is their restricted use in load bearing applications and the consequent need to develop stronger glassy materials. This has led to the consideration of oxynitride glasses for numerous biomedical applications. This paper investigated two different types of glasses at a constant cationic ratio, with and without nitrogen (a N containing and a N-free glass composition) to better understand the effect of N on the biological properties of glasses. The results revealed that the addition of N increased the glass transition temperature, isoelectric point (IEP) and slightly increased wettability. Moreover, compared to N including glass, N-free glass exhibited better anti-bacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), two key bacteria that infect implants. In summary, these in vitro results indicated that amine functional groups existing in N containing glasses which are missing in N-free glasses, caused a slight difference in wetting behavior and a more obvious change in isoelectric point and in bacterial response. N-free glasses exhibited better inhibitory results both against E. coli and S. aureus compared to N including glass suggesting that oxygen rich glasses should be further studied for their novel antibacterial properties.     

All Ag Nanoparticles Are Not the Same: Covalent Interactions between Ag Nanoparticles and Nitrile Groups Help Combat Drug- and Ag-Resistant Bacteria

Antimicrobial resistance has long been viewed as a lethal threat to global health. Despite the availability of a wide range of antibacterial medicines all around the world, organisms have evolved a resistance mechanism to these therapies. As a result, a scenario has emerged requiring the development of effective antibacterial drugs/agents. In this article, we exclusively highlight a significant finding reported by Zbořil and associates (Adv. Sci. 2021, 2003090). The authors construct a covalently bounded silver-cyanographene (GCN/Ag) with the antibacterial activity of 30 fold higher than that of free Ag ions or typical Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs). Ascribed to the strong covalent bond between nitrile and Ag, an immense cytocompatibility is shown by the GCN/Ag towards healthy human cells with a minute leaching of Ag ions. Firm interactions between the microbial membrane and the GCN/Ag are confirmed by molecular dynamics simulations, which rule out the dependence of antibacterial activity upon the Ag ions alone. Thus, this study furnishes ample scope to unfold next-generation hybrid antimicrobial drugs to confront infections arising from drug and Ag-resistant bacterial strains.     

抗菌薄膜的最新研究进展

介绍了抗菌薄膜的抗菌机理。综述了抗菌薄膜的种类和最新研究进展。提出了抗菌薄膜研究的发展趋势,即无机抗菌薄膜以纳米复合型抗菌薄膜为主要的发展趋势;天然抗菌薄膜以壳聚糖抗菌薄膜为主要的发展方向;高分子抗菌薄膜以含吡啶基团的聚合物抗菌薄膜为拓展方向;光催化型无机抗菌薄膜以纳米TiO2复合抗菌薄膜为主要的拓展趋势。     

低温等离子体处理模式对冷藏南美白对虾中假单胞菌的抑菌效果及机理研究

摘 要：目的 探究低温等离子体(cold plasma, CP)处理模式对冷藏南美白对虾中常见荧光假单胞菌(Pseudomonas fluorescens)的抑菌效果及其作用机制。方法 通过CP直接处理和循环处理P. fluorescens,研究了两种处理模式下臭氧含量动态变化对P. fluorescens的生长曲线、细胞活力,生物膜形成、细胞壁、细胞膜完整性和南美白对虾菌落总数及假单胞菌数等指标的影响。结果 两种处理模式在CP处理3 min或3 cycles后,包装内臭氧含量达到最高值,分别为(850±10) mg/m3和(874±20) mg/m3。CP循环处理模式使得臭氧含量随处理循环数递增,因此获得更长的臭氧存在时间从而具有更大的抑菌能力。P. fluorescens生长曲线表明CP处理使得菌体延迟期变长且对数生长期推迟。此外,CP处理后的P. fluorescens细胞活力显著下降(P<0.05),CP-1 min,CP-3 min和CP-3 cycles组的细胞活力分别为33.03%、5.90%和4.82%。同时相比CP-3 min组,CP-3 cycles组的P. fluorescens生物膜OD值下降27.61%。碱性磷酸酶(alkaline phosphatase, AKP)活性和核酸蛋白泄漏量结果表明,细胞壁和细胞膜完整性受损可能是P. fluorescens失活的直接原因。对虾保鲜测试结果证实,贮藏第6 d,CP-3 cycles组虾体中的菌落总数和假单胞菌数相比CP-3 min组分别降低了58.02%和79.54%。结论 CP循环处理模式通过延长对臭氧与对虾的暴露时间,提高了对P. fluorescens的灭活效果,同时还具有更优越的保鲜能力。本研究为开发基于CP技术的新型保鲜技术应用提供了理论参考。 关键词：低温等离子体;荧光假单胞菌;抑菌机制;保鲜     

Carbon nano-onion composites: Physicochemical characteristics and biological activity

Carbon nano-onion/surfactant (CNO/surfactant) composites offer the possibility to easily produce the soluble nanostructures. That approach combines the hydrophilicity of surfactants with the robustness of carbon structures to produce composites with superior and unusual physicochemical properties. We used the following surfactants: hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), 4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenyl-polyethylene glycol (Triton X-100), and polyethylene glycol sorbitan monolaurate (Tween 20) to non-covalently modify CNO surfaces. The existence of stable CNO composites are clearly evidenced by direct transmission electron microscopy observations, which are also supported by thermogravimetric analyses. Dynamic light scattering and zeta potential confirmed their dispersion and stability. Additionally, the biological activity of well-dispersed CNO/surfactant composites against a strain of Escherichia coli was assayed. In vitro antimicrobial assays for the composites revealed that only the CNO/CTAB composite decreased cell viability. This activity could be assigned to the simple composite dissociation in water solutions, however antimicrobial properties of the composite are slightly better when compared with pure CTAB. This indicate some synergic effect with respect to the properties of the pure surfactant.     

壳聚糖衍生物抗菌塑料制备与性能评价

采用水相悬浮聚合法合成壳聚糖接枝苯乙烯（CTS-g-St）抗菌剂，机械共混法制备了以LDPE为基体的抗菌塑料，采用红外光谱分析抗菌剂，扫描电镜观察材料断面，定量抗菌实验对抗菌塑料抗菌活性进行了测定，并测试了材料的力学性能。结果表明：苯乙烯单体成功接枝到壳聚糖分子上；改性壳聚糖与树脂间具有很好的相容性；抗菌剂添加量为2份时，抗菌塑料对大肠杆菌、枯草杆菌在24h、48h抗菌率均超过90％；抗菌剂的加入对材料力学性能无不良影响。     

纳米抗菌粉体材料的制备与应用研究

本研究采用纳米粒子制备技术，制成的纳米磷酸锆载银抗菌粉体材料，具有颗粒尺寸小，抗菌谱广，高效，无毒，持久和耐热等特点，在日用陶瓷釉中添加量为2.0wt%时，抗菌陶瓷餐具的抗菌率可以达到99.9%以上。