Voice prostheses are known to fail in few weeks to several months of implantation due to the clogging mainly caused by microbial biofilm formation, which is a cause of concern. Iodine is a known broad-spectrum biocide and is reported to easily form complexes with various polymers. For long term device disinfection, strong iodine complexation that offers sustained iodine release for a prolonged period is essential. The present research work deals with the synthesis of a poly(methyl methacrylate-n-butyl acrylate-N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (poly[MMA-BA-NVP]) tercopolymer through free radical polymerization for surface coating thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) based voice prostheses. The NVP content in the tercopolymer was varied from 20% to 50% to optimise iodine loading and subsequent release. Base TPU coated with the tercopolymer was treated with 4% aqueous iodine solution at room temperature (28 ± 3 °C) for two hours. It was observed that the tercopolymer containing 35% N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP), 32.5% methyl methacrylate (MMA) and 32.5% butyl acrylate (nBA) gave a stable coating on TPUs together with sustained iodine release for a prolonged period. Furthermore, the tercopolymer coated and iodine loaded TPUs exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.
Iodine , Polyurethanes , Polyurethanes/chemistry , Iodine/chemistry , Iodine/pharmacology , Staphylococcus aureus/drug effects , Candida albicans/drug effects , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Coated Materials, Biocompatible/chemistry , Coated Materials, Biocompatible/pharmacology , Anti-Infective Agents/pharmacology , Anti-Infective Agents/chemistry , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Anti-Bacterial Agents/chemistry , Anti-Bacterial Agents/chemical synthesis , Escherichia coli/drug effects , Delayed-Action Preparations/chemistry , Larynx, Artificial , Pyrrolidinones/chemistry , Pyrrolidinones/pharmacology , Surface Properties
