Hyperbranched Poly-L-Lysine Based Water-Insoluble Complexes as Antibacterial Agents with Efficient Antibacterial Activity And Cytocompatibility.

Despite the advances in technology, bacterial infection associated with biomedical devices is still one of the most challenging issues in clinical practice. Incorporation of antimicrobial agents is regarded as an efficient way to combat medical device associated infectious. However, most of antimicrobial agents have high toxicity to host cells. Thus, fabrication of novel antimicrobial agents that simultaneously fulfil the requirements of antibacterial activity as well as biocompatibility is urgently needed. Herein, a series of water-insoluble antibacterial complexes based on hyperbranched poly-L-lysine (HBPL) and four different surfactants through non-covalent interactions were developed. Such kinds of surfactants had great effects on the antibacterial property of poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) films that incorporated with the HBPL-based complexes. The results revealed that the PCL films that doped with HBPL/phosphate ester surfactant complexes showed the highest bacterial killing efficiency. Moreover, the cytocompatibility of the composite films was also investigated. Hemolysis experiments indicated that all the films had low hemolytic activities. Considering the excellent antimicrobial and cytocompatibility properties, we believe that the optimized complexes have great potential to be used as antimicrobial agents in biomedical field. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.