TY - JOUR
T1 - Antibacterial Liquid Metals
T2 - Biofilm Treatment via Magnetic Activation
AU - Elbourne, Aaron
AU - Cheeseman, Samuel
AU - Atkin, Paul
AU - Truong, Nghia P.
AU - Syed, Nitu
AU - Zavabeti, Ali
AU - Mohiuddin, Md
AU - Esrafilzadeh, Dorna
AU - Cozzolino, Daniel
AU - McConville, Chris F.
AU - Dickey, Michael D.
AU - Crawford, Russell J.
AU - Kalantar-Zadeh, Kourosh
AU - Chapman, James
AU - Daeneke, Torben
AU - Truong, Vi Khanh
PY - 2020/1/28
Y1 - 2020/1/28
N2 - Antibiotic resistance has made the treatment of biofilm-related infections challenging. As such, the quest for next-generation antimicrobial technologies must focus on targeted therapies to which pathogenic bacteria cannot develop resistance. Stimuli-responsive therapies represent an alternative technological focus due to their capability of delivering targeted treatment. This study provides a proof-of-concept investigation into the use of magneto-responsive gallium-based liquid metal (LM) droplets as antibacterial materials, which can physically damage, disintegrate, and kill pathogens within a mature biofilm. Once exposed to a low-intensity rotating magnetic field, the LM droplets become physically actuated and transform their shape, developing sharp edges. When placed in contact with a bacterial biofilm, the movement of the particles resulting from the magnetic field, coupled with the presence of nanosharp edges, physically ruptures the bacterial cells and the dense biofilm matrix is broken down. The antibacterial efficacy of the magnetically activated LM particles was assessed against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial biofilms. After 90 min over 99% of both bacterial species became nonviable, and the destruction of the biofilms was observed. These results will impact the design of next-generation, LM-based biofilm treatments.
AB - Antibiotic resistance has made the treatment of biofilm-related infections challenging. As such, the quest for next-generation antimicrobial technologies must focus on targeted therapies to which pathogenic bacteria cannot develop resistance. Stimuli-responsive therapies represent an alternative technological focus due to their capability of delivering targeted treatment. This study provides a proof-of-concept investigation into the use of magneto-responsive gallium-based liquid metal (LM) droplets as antibacterial materials, which can physically damage, disintegrate, and kill pathogens within a mature biofilm. Once exposed to a low-intensity rotating magnetic field, the LM droplets become physically actuated and transform their shape, developing sharp edges. When placed in contact with a bacterial biofilm, the movement of the particles resulting from the magnetic field, coupled with the presence of nanosharp edges, physically ruptures the bacterial cells and the dense biofilm matrix is broken down. The antibacterial efficacy of the magnetically activated LM particles was assessed against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial biofilms. After 90 min over 99% of both bacterial species became nonviable, and the destruction of the biofilms was observed. These results will impact the design of next-generation, LM-based biofilm treatments.
KW - antibacterial
KW - bacteria
KW - biofilm
KW - Galinstan
KW - gallium
KW - liquid metal
KW - magnetic
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078755084&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/LE170100096
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DE190100100
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DE180100076
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP200100231
U2 - 10.1021/acsnano.9b07861
DO - 10.1021/acsnano.9b07861
M3 - Article
C2 - 31922722
AN - SCOPUS:85078755084
SN - 1936-0851
VL - 14
SP - 802
EP - 817
JO - ACS Nano
JF - ACS Nano
IS - 1
ER -