Bacterial biofilms are associated with at least 80% of human bacterial infections. The clinical treatment of biofilm infection is still arduous, and therefore many new treatment options are under study, such as probiotics and their derivatives, quorum sensing inhibitors, antimicrobial peptides, phage therapy, organic acids, light therapy, and plant extracts. However, most of these schemes are not mature, and it is important to develop new research directions of anti-biofilms.
Titanium and its alloys have become one of the most widely used implant materials in orthopedics because of their excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility. Implant-associated infection is the main reason of failure of orthopedic implant surgery. The anti-infection modification of implant surface has received more attention in the field of infection prevention and developed rapidly. This article focuses on the current research status of simple anti-infection surface modifications that make titanium implants possess anti-adhesion, bactericidal activity or antibacterial membrane activity, as well as the research progress of composite functional surface modifications that promote bone integration, osteogenesis or immunomodulatory effects on the basis of anti-infection, so as to provide references for the construction of orthopedic implants with composite functions.
ObjectiveTo review the research status of anti-infective graft materials and analyze their application prospects, in order to provide inspiration for the development of anti-infective vascular endograft. MethodThe research on endovascular anti-infective grafts at home and abroad was reviewed. ResultsThe anti-infective capability of endovascular graft could be achieved through main approaches like modification of the bulk material, surface modification, or a combination of both. In terms of bulk material modification, this paper delved into the creation of antibacterial composite materials by incorporating other materials into primary materials like metals (such as Mg, Zn), biologically derived materials (such as chitosan, silk fibroin, bacterial cellulose), and synthetic polymers (such as graphene and its derivatives, polyurethane, polylactic acid). Examples included Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr alloy, bacterial cellulose/chitosan nanocrystal composites, and chitosan/silk fibroin composites. For surface modifications, inorganic coatings (such as silver, copper, and nitrides) and organic coatings (such as antibiotics, antimicrobial peptides, and anti-infection polymers) had shown promising antibacterial effects in experiments. ConclusionsThe future research focus is how to synthesize the composite graft material with the mechanical properties of ordinary graft and the cell, blood compatibility and antibacterial properties through nano technology. At the same time, how to synthesize coatings with stable long-term anti-infection and anti-bacterial biofilm performance is also considered to be an important direction of future research.