Engineered Antimicrobial Surfaces

The increasing incidences of life-threatening infectious diseases call for the development of antimicrobial materials and coating in every area of life. This chapters discusses the current scenario of infectious bacteria, their resistance to multiple drugs, and a serious lack of development of new antibiotics. The various techniques to produce effective antimicrobials and the need for multitargeted activity of antimicrobials is also discussed. Furthermore, it is suggested that the use of surface engineering and nanomaterials can significantly improve the chances of combating multiple drug-resistant strains of bacteria.

It is significantly accepted that microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast, fungi, and algae inhabit our world, which dominate us in number and size. We only happen to wander for a certain period of time in their world. In spite of our own cell count, even our own body is outnumbered by 10:1 microbial cells and we are living only because we can accept this fact and seek to coexist [1]. Sometimes, the presence of microorganisms is essential like in the growth factors of insects and animals.

Antimicrobial targets should be essential to the life or pathogenicity of bacteria and contain conserved target binding regions. This chapter reviews the antimicrobial target sites, their structures, roles, and their inhibition. Life-essential targets include FtsZ and their regulatory proteins; they mediate the cell division and its accompanying modifications in the cell wall. Peptidoglycan biosynthesis enzymes also belong to life-essential targets; we focused on the integral membrane protein MraY, the membrane-associated protein MurG, and penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) rather than Mur enzymes due to their in vivo inaccessibility. Targeting DNA, as an essential element, may damage the strands or interfere with the replication mechanisms, or even specific genes; sequence-specific binders are designed. For expanding the drug targets, bacterial quorum sensing systems (QSs) are targeted; it regulates several genes; we reviewed the quorum quenching through several approaches. Other targets would provide new anti-virulence drugs. The d-alanylation of teichoic acid represents a potential target in Gram-positive bacteria; we discussed the specificity and inter-species conservation of the key enzyme (d-Alanyl carrier protein ligase) in this pathway.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are versatile nanomaterials with outstanding properties that can be used in different fields. This chapter reviews the use of single- and multi-walled CNTs in the development of antimicrobial and antifouling surfaces. The performance of CNT-containing surfaces seems to depend on a multiplicity of factors that can be conjugated in order to improve their activity. A substantially higher body of knowledge has accumulated regarding the use of multi-walled CNTs and their composites and exciting developments in CNT modification and combination with different molecules are being reported. Although some of the available results are promising, contradictory findings suggest that further investigation is needed to validate the antimicrobial and antifouling activities of developed surfaces in a wider range of conditions. The existing evidence seems to indicate that CNTs and their composites will remain a promising strategy to delay bacterial adhesion and reduce biofilm formation in very different environments.

Phyllosilicates are widely used as a platform for producing effective antimicrobial materials. They are two-dimensional nanoparticles and exist as layered silicates. The interlayer sodium ions can be exchanged with various biochemical moieties to produce highly efficient antimicrobial systems. This chapter discusses organoclays, artificial nanoclay, hybrid nanoclay and clay–polymer nanocomposites used for bactericidal activities.

This chapter summarizes various strategies of developing antibacterial surfaces based on special composition and topography to obtain efficient and long-term antibacterial and/or antifouling properties. These include both active (bacteria killing) and passive (preventing bacteria attachment) strategies. We also look at fabrication techniques that replicate nature-inspired micro- and/or nano-patterns onto surfaces as well as other synthetic ways to impart antibacterial activity to surfaces. The interplay between surface properties and bacterial interaction has been addressed as the key feature for designing such antibacterial and antifouling surfaces.

Infectious illnesses are one of the chiefs led to disease and fatality in the world, and thus, there is the requisite for study on antimicrobial agents. Antibacterial and antifungal metal-based nanocompounds are of great interest to fight microbial pathogens. In this regard, large numbers of studies have been devoted to synthesize and fabricate nanosized fillers and nanocomposites possessing antimicrobial properties. This book chapter aims to give a wide overview in the field of antimicrobial metals, e.g., metal and metal oxides nanostructures, which have been employed for industrial and biomedical applications. To open a window for future research, their synthesis with different approaches, i.e., traditional synthesis and green chemistry, is described. Finally, antimicrobial compounds based on metallic nano-fillers in industrial and medicinal sectors will be presented.

There has been a significant development of nanotechnology and growing interest in the application of engineered antimicrobial surfaces (EAS) in several products over the last decade. Their regular use in number of consumer products has been linked with increased concern for human and environmental health due to the potential toxicological implications of the mostly widely used engineered nanoparticles (ENPs), which is found to have an important role in fabrication of EAS. However, the release of ENPs could cause adverse effect on the environment as well as clinical implications. Despite receiving much attention in research field in recent years, there is still considerable challenge in the analytical procedures, and evaluation of toxicity of ENPs. In this context, the book chapter highlights various types of ENPs exploited commonly for EAS and its harmful effects.