Synthesis, characterization and in vitro activity of a surface-attached antimicrobial cationic peptide.

Infection associated with implanted biomaterials is common and costly and such infections are extremely resistant to antibiotics and host defenses. Consequently, there is a need to develop surfaces which resist bacterial adhesion and colonization. The broad spectrum synthetic cationic peptide melimine has been covalently linked to a surface via two azide linkers, 4-azidobenzoic acid (ABA) or 4-fluoro-3-nitrophenyl azide (FNA), and the resulting surfaces characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and contact angle measurements. The quantity of bound peptide was estimated by a modified Bradford assay. The antimicrobial efficacy of the two melimine-modified surfaces against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus was compared by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fluorescence microscopy. Attachment of melimine via ABA gave an approximately 4-fold greater quantity of melimine bound to the surface than attachment via FNA. Surfaces melimine-modified by either attachment strategy showed significantly reduced bacterial adhesion for both strains of bacteria. P. aeruginosa exposed to ABA-melimine and FNA-melimine surfaces showed marked changes in cell morphology when observed by SEM and a reduction of approximately 15-fold (p < 0.001) in the numbers of adherent bacteria compared to controls. For the ABA-melimine surface there was a 33% increase in cells showing damaged membranes (p = 0.0016) while for FNA-melimine there was no significant difference. For S. aureus there were reductions in bacterial adhesion of approximately 40-fold (p < 0.0001) and 5-fold (p = 0.008) for surfaces modified with melimine via ABA or FNA, respectively. There was an increase in cells showing damaged membranes on ABA-melimine surfaces of approximately 87% (p = 0.001) compared to controls, while for FNA-melimine there was no significant difference observed. The data presented in this study show that melimine has excellent potential for development as a broad spectrum antimicrobial coating for biomaterial surfaces. Further, it was observed that the efficacy of antimicrobial activity is related to the method of attachment.

Characterization of chemoselective surface attachment of the cationic peptide melimine and its effects on antimicrobial activity.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising alternatives to current treatments for bacterial infections. However, our understanding of the structural-functional relationship of tethered AMPs still requires further investigation to establish a general approach for obtaining consistent antimicrobial surfaces. In this study, we have systematically examined the effects of surface orientation of a broad-spectrum synthetic cationic peptide, melimine, on its antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The attachment of melimine to maleimide-functionalized glass was facilitated by addition of a single cysteine amino acid into the peptide sequence at the N-terminus (CysN) or C-terminus (CysC), or at position 13 (Cys13, approximately central). The successful attachment of the modified melimine was monitored using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) with principle component analysis. The ToF-SIMS analysis clearly demonstrated structural difference between the three orientations. The peptide density for the modified surfaces was found to be between 3.5-4.0×10(-9)molcm(-2) using a modified Bradford assay. The ability of the surfaces to resist Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus colonization was compared using fluorescence confocal microscopy. Reductions in total P. aeruginosa and S. aureus adhesion of 70% (p<0.001) and 83% (p<0.001), respectively, after 48h were observed for the melimine samples when compared to the blank control. We found that melimine attached via the N-terminus was the most effective in reducing total bacterial adhesion and bacterial viability with two- and four times (p<0.001) more activity than melimine attached via the C-terminus for P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, respectively. Furthermore, for Cys13, despite having the highest measured peptide density of the three surfaces, the higher concentration did not confer the greatest antibacterial effect. This highlights the importance of orientation of the peptides on the surface to efficacy. Our results suggest that the optimal orientation of the cationic residues is essential for maximum surface activity, whereby the optimal activity is obtained when the cationic portion is more available to interact with colonizing bacteria.