Photothermal lysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by polyaniline nanoparticles under Near Infrared Irradiation

S. BONGIOVANNI ABEL; L.A. GALLARATO; M.S. DARDANELLI; C.A. BARBERO; C.R. RIVAROLA; E. I. YSLAS

BIOMEDICAL PHYSICS AND ENGINEERING EXPRESS

IOP

Año: 2018 vol. 4 p. 45037 - 45047

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 to destroyPseudomonas aeruginosa. Results reveal that this nanomaterial, following NIR exposure could be used for killing bacteriabecause it was observed a significant decrease in cell viability triggering cell death. In addition, the cell death mechanism wasobserved by DNA fragmentation.