Prosthetic devices are routinely implanted in patients, however an estimated 850,000 cases of implantation infections occur in the U.S. each year. The infectious organisms are most likely introduced at the time of surgery. Currently, infections resulting from implantation are treated as they occur, however prevention is the most promising approach to decreasing device-associated septicemia. One likely method of impeding the attachment and subsequent growth of pathogens is to coast implantable materials with antimicrobials. In this Phase I effort, we propose to covalently couple wide-spectrum antimicrobials (magainins) to model inert surfaces. The Magainins are well studied peptides which act by lysing pathogens at the cell wall and can therefore be active even when immobilized; i.e., they do not need to be internalized. The anticipated results from this Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of covalently coupling magainins to produce anti-microbial surfaces. During Phase II, we will optimize coupling chemistries and expand the testing of this technology to other model support matrices and implantable devices.
