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Review
. 2017 Feb 15;18(2):419.
doi: 10.3390/ijms18020419.

Antimicrobial Treatment of Polymeric Medical Devices by Silver Nanomaterials and Related Technology

Markéta Polívková  1 , Tomáš Hubáček  2 , Marek Staszek  3 , Václav Švorčík  4 , Jakub Siegel  5
Affiliations
Review

Antimicrobial Treatment of Polymeric Medical Devices by Silver Nanomaterials and Related Technology

Markéta Polívková et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Antimicrobial biocompatible polymers form a group of highly desirable materials in medicinal technology that exhibit interesting thermal and mechanical properties, and high chemical resistance. There are numerous types of polymers with antimicrobial activity or antimicrobial properties conferred through their proper modification. In this review, we focus on the second type of polymers, especially those whose antimicrobial activity is conferred by nanotechnology. Nanotechnology processing is a developing area that exploits the antibacterial effects of broad-scale compounds, both organic and inorganic, to form value-added medical devices. This work gives an overview of nanostructured antimicrobial agents, especially silver ones, used together with biocompatible polymers as effective antimicrobial composites in healthcare. The bactericidal properties of non-conventional antimicrobial agents are compared with those of conventional ones and the advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

Keywords: antimicrobials; biocompatibility; medical devices; modification; nanostructures; polymers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phases of biofilm formation: (A) attachment; (B) expansion; (C) maturation; (D) dispersion.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bacterial resistance of biofilm. Red underlines refer to the area of antibiotic/biofilm matrix contact. Biofilm matrix prevents antibiotics to affects directly the cells of planktonic bacteria.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of antimicrobial treatment of polymeric medical devices: (A) prevention of bacterial adhesion; (B) inhibition of bacterial colonization (preclusion of biofilm formation).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scheme of the division of non-antibiotics.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Multifaceted mechanisms of the antibacterial action of silver ions.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of AgNPs sputtered into glycerol [74].
Figure 7
Figure 7
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of silver nanowire arrays supported on polyethylenenaphthalate (PEN) [49].
Figure 8
Figure 8
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of pristine polyimide (PI) and Ag nanolayer-coated PI, together with their surface roughnesses [48].
Figure 9
Figure 9
AFM images of silver-coated polyimide (PI) before (left) and after (right) annealing, together with their surface roughnesses [48].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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