The bactericidal activity of glutaraldehyde‐impregnated polyurethane

Abstract

Although glutaraldehyde is known to be bactericidal in solution, its potential use to create novel antibacterial polymers suitable for use in healthcare environments has not been evaluated. Here, novel materials were prepared in which glutaraldehyde was either incorporated into polyurethane using a simple “swell‐encapsulation‐shrink” method (hereafter referred to as “glutaraldehyde‐impregnated polyurethane”), or simply applied to the polymer surface (hereafter referred to as “glutaraldehyde‐coated polyurethane”). The antibacterial activity of glutaraldehyde‐impregnated and glutaraldehyde‐coated polyurethane samples was tested against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Glutaraldehyde‐impregnated polyurethane resulted in a 99.9% reduction in the numbers of E. coli within 2 h and a similar reduction of S. aureus within 1 h, whereas only a minimal reduction in bacterial numbers was observed when the biocide was bound to the polymer surface. After 15 days, however, the bactericidal activity of the impregnated material was substantially reduced presumably due to polymerization of glutaraldehyde. Thus, although glutaraldehyde retains antibacterial activity when impregnated into polyurethane, activity is not maintained for extended periods of time. Future work should examine the potential of chemical modification of glutaraldehyde and/or polyurethane to improve the useful lifespan of this novel antibacterial polymer.

Inhibitory effects of glutaraldehyde on Geotrichum citri‐aurantii and its possible mechanism

“…Glutaraldehyde (GA) is a saturated 5-carbon dialdehyde that serves as a broad spectrum disinfectant with many striking characteristics, including high efficiency, low corrosion, low toxicity, high water solubility and high stability (Rubbo et al 1967;Li et al 2006;Lin et al 2017). GA is also widely used as a tissue fixative and sterilization agent in the medical field (Emmanuel et al 2005;Sehmi et al 2016), processing aids (Zhou et al 2014b) and aseptic agent in the food industry (Heydarifard et al 2017;Charlebois et al 2017) and of fruits post-harvest diseases control (Wang et al 2011;Wang 2012). Previously, GA was found to be capable of killing some bacteria, such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, fungi, viruses and spores of Bacillus and Clostridium species (Rutala and Weber, 2004;Sehmi et al 2016).…”

“…GA is also widely used as a tissue fixative and sterilization agent in the medical field (Emmanuel et al 2005;Sehmi et al 2016), processing aids (Zhou et al 2014b) and aseptic agent in the food industry (Heydarifard et al 2017;Charlebois et al 2017) and of fruits post-harvest diseases control (Wang et al 2011;Wang 2012). Previously, GA was found to be capable of killing some bacteria, such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, fungi, viruses and spores of Bacillus and Clostridium species (Rutala and Weber, 2004;Sehmi et al 2016). In a more recent study, the combination of GA and didecyldimethylammonium bromide was found to exhibit a strong inhibitory effect on Candida albicans (Lin et al 2018).…”

Anticipating xenogenic pollution at the source: Impact of sterilizations on DNA release from microbial cultures

“…This explains why DNA was not released into the extracellular fraction. Glutaraldehyde does perform cross-linking reactions with compounds present in the cell outer layers, thus negatively altering the permeability and transportability of cell membranes 19,22,28 . Our observations show that this chemical exposure time (20 min) is enough to inactivate cells and prevent the transport and release of nucleic acids across membranes.…”

“…Glutaraldehyde is commonly used in industry, research labs and, more specific, in hospitals as a disinfectant on dental and medical instruments, such as endoscopes, and surfaces. Glutaraldehyde has a wide range of biocidal activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, viruses, and spores 19,20 . It is a strong cross-linker that combines with multiple molecular functions such as amino and sulfhydryl groups 21 .…”

Anticipating Xenogenic Pollution at the Source: Impact of Sterilizations on DNA Release From Microbial Cultures

“…Glutaraldehyde is commonly used in industry, research labs and, more specific, in hospitals as a disinfectant on dental and medical instruments, such as endoscopes, and surfaces. Glutaraldehyde has a wide range of biocidal activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, viruses, and spores (Ballantyne and Jordan, 2001;Sehmi et al, 2016). It is a strong cross-linker that combines with multiple molecular functions such as amino and sulfhydryl groups (Okuda et al, 1991).…”