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Chitosan films are NOT antimicrobial

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Abstract

Chitosan is a promising biomaterial for biomedical applications and is currently applied as wound dressings. While chitosan solutions demonstrate strong bactericidal activity against a range of medically important bacteria, the study here reports a loss of this beneficial property in thin films cast from the same solutions. Chitosan films (20 μm) showed no inhibitory effects against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus or S. epidermidis species. In contrast, solutions used to prepare the films showed almost complete inhibition (~98 ± 2%) when tested on bacterial lawns and in liquid cultures. Increased acidity of the chitosan solutions (pH 5) was shown to promote the bactericidal effects of this biopolymer. The concept that devices fabricated from chitosan have an inherent antimicrobial activity is suggested as an important misconception.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bio/Polymer Research Group, School of Biotechnology & Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    L. John R. Foster & Julian Butt

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  1. L. John R. Foster
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  2. Julian Butt
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Correspondence to L. John R. Foster.

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Foster, L.J.R., Butt, J. Chitosan films are NOT antimicrobial. Biotechnol Lett 33, 417–421 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-010-0435-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-010-0435-1

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