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https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1X11yy3ZwvsOo

In this work COOH/anhydride functionalized biodegradable nanofibers were prepared by using atmospheric pressure plasma copolymerization of maleic anhydride (MA) and C2H2. The XPS and ATR-FTIR analyses revealed a high concentration of carboxyl and anhydride groups that were used for grafting of gentamycin (GM) onto the surface of PCL nanofibers. It was shown that GM can be immobilized with and without dicyclohexyl carbodiimde (DCC). The immobilization without DCC led to ionic bonding (PCL-MA-GMi), whereas the immobilization using DCC activation results in covalent bonding (PCL-MA-GMc). The investigation of IAR2 epithelial cells’ adhesion and proliferation revealed that the GM-loaded nanofibers are biocompatible. The nanofibers without immobilized GM did not show any noticeable antibacterial activity against different types of tested E. coli bacteria. In contrast, the size of inhibition zone around the PCL-MA-GMi and PCL-MA-GMc samples reached 27 mm, hereby indicating a strong antibacterial effect against all types of E. coli bacteria. The GM-loaded nanofibers also demonstrated a pronounced antibacterial effect after immersion in phosphate buffered saline at 37 oC for 24 h. Thus the results demonstrated that the proposed strategy for the preparation of antibacterial biocompatible nanofibers with sufficiently long antibacterial effect has a great potential for future application for wound healing.