Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Advisor 1

Megan Frost

Committee Member 1

Bruce Lee

Committee Member 2

Karyn A. Fay

Abstract

Bacterial infections continue to be a problem at the site of an indwelling medical device, and over the years, various bacterial strains have become more resistant to current antibiotic treatments. Bacterial infection at an indwelling medical device can be dangerous and affect the performance of the medical device which can ultimately lead to the failure of the device due to bacterial resistance to treatment.

Nitric Oxide (NO) has been shown to possess antibacterial properties to prevent and inhibit bacterial growth. NO releasing coatings on indwelling medical devices could provide a reduction in bacterial infections that occur at the device site such as for use in a urinary catheter. This work demonstrated that 1.7 x 10-8 moles of NO delivered over 18 hours prevented the growth and proliferation of Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli using S-Nitroso-N-acetyl-D-penicillamine linked to polydimethylsiloxane (SNAP-PDMS). It was also demonstrated that this effect is highly localized, with NO affecting bacteria only directly touching the polymer films. This localization should prevent systemic effects commonly observed with oral antibiotics when fabricating devices such as urinary catheters.

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