Combining Gold Nanoparticles and Antimicrobial Peptides for Photothermal Antibacterial Therapy and Bacterial Detection

• Main Authors: Chih-YuLiu, 劉致佑
• Other Authors: Wen-Tai Chiu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/84475485931048534934

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 生物醫學工程學系 === 102 === In this study we investigate the efficacy of photothermal therapy (PTT) using antimicrobial peptide-conjugated gold nanoparticles (AMP-AuNPs). In our live, the cases of bacterial infections are often seen, such as skin inflammation, wound fester, diabetic foot, etc. For humans, how to resist these invisible microbes is being a great challenge. However, the bacteria induce resistance because abuse of the antibiotic in recent years, the efficacy of antibiotic or some antimicrobial drugs are reduced gradually. We use AuNPs to convert light into heat, and we use AMPs to enhance the antibacterial effect. AMPs have antibacterial activity because their own electrostatic charge can random insert into the membrane. Next, the AMPs slightly align hydrophobic sequences and remove the membrane sections and form some pores. AMPs can promote the binding between AuNPs and bacteria or even enter the center of bacteria and thus increase the efficacy of photothermal therapy. After the reaction of AMP-conjugated AuNPs and bacteria, the samples expose to laser light and culture the samples on agar plates and stain the bacteria with live/dead cell staining kit to determine whether the bacteria are killed. Given that the binding of AMPs to bacteria is semi-selective and that photothermal therapy is not compromised by antibiotic resistance, we expect the photothermal therapy developed in this study can be an effective and broad-spectrum therapy method and furthermore use this method to achieve a bacterial detection.