Antimicrobial peptide functionalized novel PCL/sodium alginate fibers to combat antibiotic resistance in wound Taufiq Hasan Aneem 1 , Saumitra Chakravarty 2 , M. Tarik Arafat 1 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh, 2 Department of Pathology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Bangladesh Surgical site infections (SSIs) are caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria leading to delayed wound healing. The overuse and misuse of antibiotics have caused a surge in SSI and commonly available antibiotics are proving to be ineffective 1 . Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can be a potential solution to against antibiotic resistance in SSI and accelerate wound healing 2 . Therefore, AMPs were extracted from natural sources and incorporated onto an engineered microfiber to be used as surgical suture. To accomplish this, two polymers of opposite characteristics, namely a hydrophilic polymer sodium alginate and a hydrophobic one polycaprolactone (PCL), were used to manufacture microfibers via a novel wet spinning method. The polymer solutions acted as coagulants for each other when PCL was extruded in an alginate bath. AMPs were then immobilized onto the fibers exploiting the self-polymerization behavior of dopamine 3 . FTIR results confirmed the successful integration of both polymers and peptides. Having an average diameter of 220 µm, the average knot-pull tensile strength of the fibers was 7.34 N complying with the USP standards for suture. Due to the antibacterial activity of AMP, the microfibers were able to hinder the growth of Proteus spp. , a pathogenic bacteria for at least 36 hours which was not the case when the antibiotic ceftazidime was used against it. This proves the potential of the engineered fibers to overcome antibiotic resistance. When subjected to in vivo study, accelerated wound healing was observed when the wound was closed using the PCL-alginate-peptide fiber compared to commercially available suture Vicryl. PCL-alginate- peptide fiber promoted faster re-epithelialization as characterized by the continual decrease in epithelial gap in the wound. Neoangiogenesis was also observed to be higher in PCL-alginate-peptide fiber compared to Vicryl proving the higher wound healing capacity of PCL-alginate-peptide fibers. References 1. De Lissovoy, G., Fraeman, K. H., Hutchins, V., Murphy, D., Song, D. H., & Vaughn, B. B. (2009). Surgical site infection: Incidence and impact on hospital utilization and treatment costs. American Journal of Infection Control, 37(5), 387–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2008.12.010 2. Deslouches, B. (2017, November 1). Antimicrobial peptides: a potential therapeutic option for surgical site infections. PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6101250/ 3. Cao, P., Liu, D. L., Zhang, Y., Xiao, F., Yuan, C., Li, F., Liu, X., & Zhang, C. (2022). Dopamine-assisted sustainable antimicrobial peptide coating with antifouling and anticorrosion properties. Applied Surface Science, 589, 153019. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.153019
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