Biomacromolecules | 2019
Evidence of biomimetic and non-antibiotic characteristics of zinc-carboxymethyl chitosan-genipin organometallic complex and its biocompatibility aspects.
Abstract
Bioinspired non-antibiotics could prove to be a better and efficient tool to fight against antimicrobial resistance. In our study biomaterial composed of zinc-carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC)-genipin was investigated for this purpose. Briefly, CMC was synthesized and transformed to porous scaffolds using freeze drying method. The scaffolds were crosslinked and stabilized with genipin and zinc (2 M zinc acetate), respectively. IR spectroscopic data testified Zn complex formation and pointed out the absence of water molecule like that of non-antibiotic zinc motif containing proteins. Hence, the complex may be termed as biomimetic. Genipin (0.5%) crosslinking appeared to contribute additively to the wet compressive strength of the zinc-CMC scaffolds. Biodegradation data revealed the stability of CMC-genipin-zinc scaffolds in enzymatic and non-enzymatic conditions than their redundant controls. The scaffolds seem to support adhesion and proliferation of human dental pulp stem cells and were haemocompatible to human red blood corpuscles (RBC) as revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The scaffolds were found to be antibacterial and mildly antibiofilm when tested against biofilm forming bacteria i.e. Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 9144) making it a potential non-antibiotic like biomaterial. To conclude, this organometallic complex based biomaterial may potentially serve as a weapon against antimicrobial resistance. Furthermore, the biomaterial potentially finds its application in dental, maxillofacial and orthopedic tissue engineering applications.