Polarization of Macrophages, Cellular Adhesion, and Spreading on Bacterially Contaminated Gold Nanoparticle-Coatings in Vitro.

Biomaterial-associated infections often arise from contaminating bacteria adhering to an implant surface that are introduced during surgical implantation and not effectively eradicated by antibiotic treatment. Whether or not infection develops from contaminating bacteria depends on an interplay between bacteria contaminating the biomaterial surface and tissue cells trying to integrate the surface with the aid of immune cells. The biomaterial surface plays a crucial role in defining the outcome of this race for the surface. Tissue integration is considered the best protection of a biomaterial implant against infectious bacteria. This paper aims to determine whether and how macrophages aid osteoblasts and human mesenchymal stem cells to adhere and spread over gold nanoparticle (GNP)-coatings with different hydrophilicity and roughness in the absence or presence of contaminating, adhering bacteria. All GNP-coatings had identical chemical surface composition, and water contact angles decreased with increasing roughness. Upon increasing the roughness of the GNP-coatings, the presence of contaminating Staphylococcus epidermidis in biculture with cells gradually decreased surface coverage by adhering and spreading cells, as in the absence of staphylococci. More virulent Staphylococcus aureus fully impeded cellular adhesion and spreading on smooth gold- or GNP-coatings, while Escherichia coli allowed minor cellular interaction. Murine macrophages in monoculture tended toward their pro-inflammatory "fighting" M1-phenotype on all coatings to combat the biomaterial, but in bicultures with contaminating, adhering bacteria, macrophages demonstrated Ym1 expression, indicative of polarization toward their anti-inflammatory "fix-and-repair" M2-phenotype. Damage repair of cells by macrophages improved cellular interactions on intermediately hydrophilic/rough (water contact angle 30 deg/surface roughness 118 nm) GNP-coatings in the presence of contaminating, adhering Gram-positive staphylococci but provided little aid in the presence of Gram-negative E. coli. Thus, the merits on GNP-coatings to influence the race for the surface and prevent biomaterial-associated infection critically depend on their hydrophilicity/roughness and the bacterial strain involved in contaminating the biomaterial surface.

Bacterial detachment from salivary conditioning films by dentifrice supernates.

This study compared the detachment by supernates of nine different dentifrices of four oral bacterial strains adhering to a salivary pellicle in a parallel plate flow chamber. Ultra-thin bovine enamel slabs were coated for 1.5 h with human whole saliva. Following buffer rinsing, a bacterial suspension of Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus sanguis, Streptococcus mutans or Actinomyces naeslundii was perfused through the flow chamber at a shear rate of 30 s-1 for four hours, and the number of adhering bacteria n4h was enumerated by image analysis after buffer rinsing at the same shear rate. Then, a 25 wt%-dentifrice/water supernate was perfused through the flow chamber for four minutes, followed by eight minutes of buffer rinsing and another enumeration of the number of bacteria that had remained adhering nad. Finally, an air-bubble was passed through the flow chamber to mimic the occasionally high detachment forces occurring in the oral cavity, and the adhering bacteria nab were counted again. On average, S. sanguis was the easiest to detach (73% averaged over all dentifrice supernates), while A. naeslundii was the most difficult (22% on average). The combined detachment of bacteria by dentifrice supernates and air-bubble ranged from a low of 16% to a high of 80%. Dentifrices containing pyrophosphate and polymeric polyphosphate (hexametaphosphate) surface active ingredients appeared to produce the most consistent and strongest desorption effects on plaque bacteria. Factors apparently important to bacterial detachment from pellicle-covered tooth surfaces by dentifrice formulations include the nature of adhesion of bacterial strains and chemical composition of the dentifrice formulations, including pH, surfactant system and the effect of added ingredients (dispersants, metal ions, peroxides, baking soda).