Photothermal lysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by polyaniline nanoparticles under near infrared irradiation

BONGIOVANNI S; GALLARATO L.; DARDANELLI M.S; BARBERO C; RIVAROLA C; YSLAS E

Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express

OIP Publishing

Año: 2018 vol. 1 p. 1 - 10

2057-1976

Increases in the prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria require new approaches for the treatment of infectiousbacterial pathogens. A new therapeutic modality, which is called photothermal therapy (PTT) involves the absorption of NearInfrared Radiation (NIR) light by absorbing species (e.g. polyaniline nanoparticles) and transfer of the absorbed energy intothe surrounding environment as heat that could cause pathogen death. Since the pathogen cells, and the surrounding tissue,does not absorb NIR radiation, an agent which strongly absorb the light has to be added. In this work, were performedexperiments to determine if polyaniline nanoparticles (PANI-NP) in combination with NIR irradiation could be used todestroy Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results reveal that this nanomaterial, following NIR exposure could be used for killingbacteria because it was observed a significant decrease in cell viability triggering cell death. In addition, the cell deathmechanism was observed by DNA fragmentation.