Oxygen-generating nanofiber cell scaffolds with antimicrobial properties.

Many next-generation biomaterials will need the ability to not only promote healthy tissue integration but to simultaneously resist bacterial colonization and resulting biomaterials-associated infection. For this purpose, antimicrobial nanofibers of polycaprolactone (PCL) were fabricated by incorporating calcium peroxide. PCL nanofibers containing different ratios of calcium peroxide (1%, 5% and 10% (w/w)) with or without ascorbic acid were fabricated using an electrospinning technique. Antimicrobial evaluations confirmed the inhibitory properties of the nanofibers on the growth of E. coli and S. epidemidis because of a significant burst release of calcium peroxide from the nanofibers. Analysis of tissue cell response showed that despite an initial toxic effect over the first 24 h, after 4 days of culture, osteoblast viability and morphology were both healthy. These results demonstrate that oxygen-generating nanofibers can be designed and developed to provide a short-term peroxide-based antimicrobial response while still maintaining attractive tissue-integration properties.