Suture-associated surgical site infection causes bacterial pathogens to colonize the suture surface and biofilms that are highly resistant to antibiotic treatment. Surgical suture materials with antibacterial coating are becoming increasingly common in surgical practice. Traditional materials used in clinical settings often cause secondary complications such as infection, foreign body reaction, or chronic inflammation. Surgical sutures combining antibacterial nanomaterials possess a more promising efficacy. The application of antibacterial coatings to suture materials can make a significant contribution to prevention of the suture-associated surgical site infection. The most widely used and proven antimicrobial agent is the broad-spectrum antiseptic triclosan. However, due to the ecotoxicity of its oxidation products, there is currently a tendency to create suture materials with low or no triclosan content. This work provided a new approach to the development of antibacterial sutures based on the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. We have proposed applying a titanium–vanadium oxide nanofilm that is 12 nm thick on surgical sutures with an enhanced antibacterial property. The ALD process was carried out at a temperature of 80 °C. The ALD process was performed using supercycles consisting of repeated surface self-saturating hydrolysis reactions between TiCl4 and H2O, VOCl3 and H2O. The obtained surgical sutures showed high antibacterial effectiveness against strains of microorganisms E.Coli and S. Aureus. We are currently conducting animal tests.
The work was carried out within the framework of the State Assignment 1023022800054-7-3.4.4.