2023-09-02 06:00:07
It was by taking inspiration from the wings of insects, which hold bactericidal micro-points, that researchers had the idea of inventing a new system of titanium micro-points to kill bacteria. The system developed is effective in killing the most resistant superbugs!
Image d’illustration Pixabay
Between 6 and 7% of patients who stay in the hospital contract a nosocomial infection (The nosocomial infections are the infections contracted in an establishment of…) within the establishment. This therefore represents approximately 750,000 cases each year (A year is a unit of time expressing the duration between two occurrences of a related event…) out of 15 million patients in France. In most cases, these are infections developing around (Autour is the name that the avian nomenclature in French (update) gives…) implants or prostheses during surgical interventions, increasingly drug-resistant superbugs/fungi. Despite the use of antibiotics, chemicals and anti-microbial coatings by doctors, they still fail to stop resistant strains.
Researchers at RMIT University have just designed a new antimicrobial system inspired by the surface (A surface generally designates the superficial layer of an object. The term a…) of the wings of certain insects (Insectes is a French-language journal d ecology and entomology intended for a wide range…) such as dragonflies or cicadas. On these animals, the wings are covered with tiny pillars acting as a mechanical biocide (In everyday language, mechanics is the domain of machines, motors, vehicles, organs…): these pillars actually make it possible to physically separate the cells bacteria, and kill them.
Scientists then came up with the idea of growing a titanium surface covered with specially designed microscopic spikes, each the size of a bacterial cell, using a technique called plasma etching ( In physics, plasma describes a state of matter made up of charged particles (ions…) And these tips are effective against bacteria (Bacteria (Bacteria) are prokaryotic unicellular living organisms, characterized…) and fungi!
Conclusive tests have been carried out on Candida, a deadly fungus responsible for one out of ten nosocomial infections: more than half of the cells have been destroyed. For the other half, if not destroyed immediately, the cells became non-viable due to spike damage, and became unable to reproduce or cause infection. For the latter, the process finally ended in apoptosis (We call apoptosis (or programmed cell death, or cell suicide) the process by…) (cell death).
A previous study had already proven the effectiveness of this system on Staphylococcus aureus. Scientists claim that this technique is relatively simple to set up, that it can be applied to many materials (A material is a material of natural or artificial origin that man shapes to make it…), and presents the advantage of not requiring medication (A medication is a substance or composition presented as possessing…). A new process thus opening the way to multiple potential applications.
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