Gold Nanorod-Functionalised Surfacesfor Bacterial Elimination - Utilising localised surface plasmon resonance generated heat to prevent implant-associated infections
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Materials chemistry (MPMCN), MSc
Publicerad
2022
Författare
Ridderstråle, Caroline
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Medical implant-associated infections are a major problem in today’s healthcare. A
big issue is microbial contamination of the implant during surgery, since it often is
the start of implant-associated infections. Control of the hospitalisation environment
and use of antibiotics have been a key target to minimise the risk of infection during
implant surgeries. However, a possible alternative way to inhibit microbial adhesion
and growth of bacteria on the implant is to modify the chemistry or the topology of
the implant surface. Therefore, to be able to prevent implant-associated infections,
the development of new materials is important. A procedure for making use of
gold nanorod-functionalised surfaces that are irradiated with near-infrared (NIR)
light to photothermally eliminate bacteria in contact with the surfaces has been
developed and evaluated in this thesis. The gold nanorod-functionalised surfaces
were produced by electrostatic surface assembly of gold nanorods on glass surfaces,
and the used gold nanorods were synthesised through a seed-mediated synthesis.
Two types of in vitro studies were conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial activity
of the gold nanorod-functionalised glass surfaces irradiated with NIR light at 808
nm. From both of the in vitro studies the results indicated that a surface with gold
nanorods irradiated with NIR light can photothermally eliminate bacteria in contact
with the surface. One study contained exposure of the surfaces in a laboratory
room to collect microbial contamination on the surfaces, to mimic the exposure of
an implant during a surgical procedure. This study also showed that a surface with
gold nanorods attracts more particles with bacteria compared to a glass surface,
likely due to the electrostatic charge of the gold nanorods. The other in vitro study
used Staphylococcus aureus cultured and partly dried on the surfaces. Approximately
22 % more dead bacteria were detected on the surfaces irradiated with NIR light
compared to the control surfaces.
The concept of utilising gold nanorod-functionalised surfaces in combination with
NIR light to help fight and prevent implant-associated infections showed promise
for future work. It would further be interesting to find an optimum of antimicrobial
activity by varying the gold nanorod surface coverage and the power of the NIR
laser. Furthermore it would be interesting to expose surfaces in operating rooms for
implants, to evaluate the elimination of the microbial contamination occurring in a
clinical environment.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Gold nanorods , implant-associated infections , localised surface plasmon resonance , antimicrobial surfaces