Description
- Abstract:
- Bacterial infections caused by antibiotic resistant strains are of deep concern due to an increasing prevalence, and are a major cause of morbidity in the United States. In particular, medical device failures, and thus human lives, are a greatly impacted by infections, where the treatments required are further complicated by the tendency of pathogenic bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, to produce antibiotic resistant biofilms. For example, implantation of orthopedic devices comes with the added risk of infection for all total hip arthroplasties (THA) and total knee arthroplasties (TKA), causing added pain, increased cost of surgery, decreased mobility, and decreased quality of life for the recipient of an implant. Moreover, when such devices become infected, they frequently must be removed, because antibiotics or other current therapies don’t work sufficiently, and at that point the device fails. Such infections have also been reported on central venous catheters and needleless connectors, endotracheal tubes, mechanical heart valves, pacemakers, cardiac grafts, and other life-saving medical devices and implants. In this thesis, we put a panel of relevant antibiotics to the test, including clinically relevant penicillin, oxacillin, gentamicin, streptomycin, and vancomycin, and although antibiotics were effective against free-floating planktonic Staphylococcus aureus, either no change in surface-adherent bacterial biofilm function was observed, or, more frequently, biofilm function was enhanced. As an alternative, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (termed as SPION) were synthesized through a two-step process with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) as a chelator, followed by conjugation of metals including iron, zinc, or silver; thus, the antibacterial properties of metals were coupled to the superparamagnetic properties of SPION. SPION might be the ideal antibacterial treatment, with superior ability to decrease multiple bacterial functions, increase osteoblast (bone cell) functions, target infections in a magnetic field, and had activity better than antibiotics or metal salts alone, as is required for treatment of medical device infections for which no treatment exists today.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2012)
Access Conditions
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- In Copyright
- Restrictions on Use
- Collection is open for research.
Citation
Taylor, Erik N.,
"Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPION) for the Treatment of Device Related Infections"
(2012).
Biomedical Engineering Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z00G3HF2
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Biomedical Engineering Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Biomedical Engineering department....