Electrospun Wound Healing Devices Containing Antimicrobial Ionic Liquids/Deep Eutectic Solvents Resist Biofouling

Tuesday, 11 October 2022: 09:20
Room 303 (The Hilton Atlanta)
M. A. Nguyen, P. D. Phillips, A. M. Whitaker (Northern Arizona University), R. E. Del Sesto (Dixie State University), R. S. Kellar, and A. T. Koppisch (Northern Arizona University)
Diabetes and prediabetes affect over 100 million people in the US.1 A significant complication of this disease is the formation of non-healing diabetic ulcers or wounds that require significant time to heal. Closure of these wounds is further hindered by infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and if not resolved, these infections often progress into deep tissue, often resulting in amputations. In this work, the antimicrobial deep eutectic solvent choline geranate farnesol (CAGE-F) was incorporated into biomaterials comprised of dermal proteins (e.g. gelatin,) via electrospinning. Previous work has demonstrated these protein biomaterials stimulate dermal healing relative to conventional wound coverings,2 and incorporation of antibacterial ionic liquids/deep eutectic solvents (IL/DES) enables the dressings to resist microbial biofouling.3 Synthesis of CAGE-F was performed via salt metathesis, the resultant material chemically characterized, and potency against biofilms of various pathogenic microbes quantified. CAGE-F displayed comparable antimicrobial potency to its parent compound, choline geranate (CAGE)4 against twenty-four hour biofilms of the pathogenic fungus, Candida albicans. Biomaterials incorporating CAGE-F similarly enabled these materials to resist biofouling by this species as measured by a microbial corruption assay, yet the material’s ability to nucleate and allow for the proliferation of human dermal fibroblast (hDf) cells was retained. Unlike the parent compound, treatments of CAGE-F were observed to repress the expression of genes associated with pathogenicity of C. albicans which indicates the material has favorable properties for short and long-term control of diabetic ulcer infections.

References:

1National Diabetes Statistics Report, U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA, 2017

2 Machula H. et al Adv Wound Care. 2014;5:367-375.

3 Bardsley T.A. et al J. Biomed Mater Res B, 202, 109, 1271-1282.

4 Zakrewsky M. et alAdv Healthc Mater. 2016;5:1282-1289.