Nanoparticles instead of antibiotics
Scientists have created antibacterial quantum dots
An antibacterial material based on nanocarbon, capable of overcoming the "self-defense" of pathogens, was developed by TPU scientists together with foreign colleagues. According to the authors, the drug differs from analogues in high efficiency, low toxicity to the body and low cost. The article was published in the journal Materials Science and Engineering: C (Sviridova et al., Surface modification of carbon dots with tetraalkylammonium moieties for fine tuning their antibacterial activity).
One of the main challenges in the field of biomedicine today is the rapid development of resistance in bacteria to both existing and new antibiotics. An important factor in reducing the effectiveness of these drugs, according to scientists, is the formation of biofilms, that is, dense clusters of microorganisms with a strong membrane.
A promising method of destruction and suppression of biofilms consists in the use of antibacterial agents based on nanomaterials. However, existing drugs of this kind, as explained by specialists of Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), are quite expensive and toxic to the body.
TPU scientists have developed a new antibacterial material based on carbon quantum dots, one of the types of layered graphite nanostructures. According to the creators, additives of diazonium salts give the material a pronounced antimicrobial effect.
"The variation of the structure of diazonium groups "grafted" onto the surface of carbon points allowed the development of the most active antibacterial material. It has shown high efficiency not only in relation to single bacteria of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, but also to their biofilms," said Elizaveta Sviridova, a junior researcher at the TPU Research School of Chemical and Biomedical Technologies.
The mechanism of biofilm suppression is based on the destructive effect of the positively charged hydrophobic surface of the new material on bacterial membranes, the scientists reported.
Similar developments among nanomaterials — nanoparticles of precious metals, metal-organic frameworks and others — are noticeably inferior to carbon structures in terms of ease of manufacture and safety for humans, TPU specialists noted.
The work was carried out jointly with scientists from the University of Lille (France).
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