Antimicrobial activity of commercial calcium phosphate based materials functionalized with vanillin

Abstract

[EN] Infections represent one of the most frequent causes of arthroplasty revision. Thus, design of new antimi-crobial scaffolds to reduce implant rejections, bone infections and associated medical costs is highlydesired. In recent years, essential oil components (EOCs) have merged as compounds with signi¿cantantimicrobial activity that can be attached to speci¿c surfaces to enhance and prolong their antimicrobialeffect. Herein calcium phosphate CaP regenerative materials have been coated with a vanillin derivativeto combine its original bone regeneration properties with antimicrobial action of EOCs. Materials in formof microparticles and blocks were prepared and fully characterized. Clonogenic viability tests demon-strated that low concentrations of material (10 mg/mL-1) resulted effective to kill 100% of E. coli DH5abacteria. Additionally, vanillin containing scaffolds did not display any toxic effect over cells, yet theypreserve the ability to express alkaline phosphatase (ALPL), collagen type 1, chaina1(COL1A1) and bonegamma-carboxyglutamic acid-containing protein or osteocalcin (BGLAP), which are genes typicallyexpressed by osteoblasts. These results demonstrate that commercially available scaffolds can be func-tionalized with EOCs, achieving antimicrobial activity and open up a new approach for the treatmentand prevention of infection.