Quaternized cashew gum: An anti-staphylococcal and biocompatible cationic polymer for biotechnological applications

• Autor(a) principal: Quelemes, Patrick V.
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: Araújo, Alyne R. de, Plácido, Alexandra, Delerue-Matos, Cristina, Maciel, Jeanny S., Bessa, Lucinda J., Ombredane, Alicia S., Joanitti, Graziella A., Soares, Maria José dos S., Eaton, Peter, Silva, Durcilene A. da, Leite, José Roberto S.A.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/9436
• topic: Cashew gum; Quaternization; Antibacterial; Staphylococcus spp.; Biocompatibility

Chemical modifications to cashew gum (CG) structure have been previously reported to obtain new physicochemical characteristics, however until now there were no reports of modifications by intro-duction of new functional groups to add cationic character. This study presents a quaternization route for CG using a quaternary ammonium reagent. The chemical features of the quaternized cashew gum derivatives (QCG) were analyzed by: FTIR, elemental analysis, degree of substitution, Zeta potential, 1H NMR and 1H-13C correlation (HSQC). QCG were evaluated for their anti-staphylococcal activity by deter-mining minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations against pathogenic Staphylococcus spp. and by imaging using atomic force microscopy. Moreover, the mammalian cell biocompatibility were also assessed through hemolytic and cell toxicity assays. QCG presented promising antimicrobial activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus and biocompatibility on tested cells. These results show that QCG could be a promising tool in the development of biomaterials with an anti-septic action.