Varied-shaped gold nanoparticles with nanogram killing efficiency as potential antimicrobial surface coatings for the medical devices

Abstract

Medical device-associated infections are a serious medical threat, particularly for patients with impaired mobility and/or advanced age. Despite a variety of antimicrobial coatings for medical devices being explored to date, only a limited number have been introduced for clinical use. Research into new bactericidal agents with the ability to eradicate pathogens, limit biofilm formation, and exhibit satisfactory biocompatibility, is therefore necessary and urgent. In this study, a series of varied-morphology gold nanoparticles in shapes of rods, peanuts, stars and spherical-like, porous ones with potent antibacterial activity were synthesized and thoroughly tested against spectrum of Candida albicans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus clinical strains, as well as spectrum of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates. The optimization of gold nanoparticles synthesis allowed to develop nanomaterials, which are proved to be significantly more potent against tested microbes compared with the gold nanoformulations reported to date. Notably, their antimicrobial spectrum includes strains with different drug resistance mechanisms. Facile and cost-efficient synthesis of gold nanoparticles, remarkable bactericidal efficiency at nanogram doses, and low toxicity, underline their potential for development as a new coatings, as indicated by the example of urological catheters. The presented research fills a gap in microbial studies of non-spherical gold nanoparticles for the development of antimicrobial coatings targeting multidrug-resistant pathogens responsible for device-associated nosocomial infections.

Ceragenin-Coated Non-Spherical Gold Nanoparticles as Novel Candidacidal Agents

“…The motivation for selecting rod-shaped nanoparticles to the induction of the development of resistance of Candida strains was dictated by the previous research. The results obtained by Piktel et al showed no substantial differences between rod-, peanut-, and star-shaped gold nanoparticles [39]. Comparable conclusions were also drawn in our other research, where the negligible distinction on viability of Staphylococcus aureus Xen30, S. epidermidis 175, Klebsiella pneumoniae 700603, K. oxytoca 329, Pseudomonas aeruginosa LESB58, and P. aeruginosa 510 among rod-, peanut-, and star-shaped gold nanosystems was observed.…”

“…On the other hand, Jebali et al confirmed that the antifungal properties of silver and gold nanocubes against Candida isolates were greater than gold and silver nanospheres and wires [41]. The above assumption was further supported by other results where a potent bactericidal activity of non-spherical nanosystems in comparison to spherical-nanoparticles was observed [39].…”

“…The reason for choosing these shapes of nanoparticles was dictated by previous investigations. Piktel et al demonstrated the paramount antimicrobial efficacy of rod-, peanut-, and star-shaped gold nanoparticles compared with spherical-shaped nanoparticles against representative isolates of C. albicans fungi, Gramnegative bacteria like E. coli and P. aeruginosa species, and Gram-positive strains involving S. aureus [39]. Moreover, the results presented by Penders et al and Jebali et al also confirmed that non-spherical gold nanoparticles (flowers, stars, and cubes) revealed a far superior activity than those in a spherical-shape [40,41].…”

Candida albicans Biofilm Inhibition by Two Vaccinium macrocarpon (Cranberry) Urinary Metabolites: 5-(3′,4′-DihydroxyPhenyl)-γ-Valerolactone and 4-Hydroxybenzoic Acid

“…and, in particular, C. albicans are prone to develop biofilms on indwelling devices [25] that offer this fungus new niches to colonize, and to use as an entry route to deeper sites. To reduce the infection burden due to biofilmcolonized medical devices, the use of compounds with anti-adhesive properties to coat or to functionalize biomaterials is also under investigation [26,27]. Among genitourinary infections, Candida is also a common etiological agent of vulvovaginitis [28], affecting a high percentage of women at reproductive age.…”

Green Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles Using Plant Extracts as Beneficial Prospect for Cancer Theranostics

“…By fine tuning the components and concentrations, AuNPs can be easily manufactured into various forms and sizes [28][29][30]. AuNPs have also shown significant advancement in treating inflammatory diseases and bacterial infections [31,32].…”