(351b) Development of Biodegradable Hydrogels for the Controlled Release of Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Agents

Antibiotic resistance emergence is a major medical challenge
due to the resulting reduced clinical effectiveness of antibiotics.  Mitigation of these resistant bacteria in
wounds would be greatly beneficial towards the reduction of infection and
prognosis of patients.  In this research,
a multidrug loaded hydrogel is devised which can interfere with the ability of Staphylococcus aureus to develop
antibiotic resistance towards the commonly used antibiotic vancomycin.  By acting upon the bacteria with two agents
which function through independent mechanisms, it is possible to suppress the
ability of bacteria to propagate as well as evolve resistance via hydrogen
peroxide signaling in formed biofilms. 
Sustained release of the drugs is important as eventually the hydrogel
will have a longer life-span in vivo
versus a burst-release system, and these two components are shown to
time-release by adding them to a tunable biodegradable poly(beta-amino ester)
hydrogel.  This time-release is shown
through use of degradation studies in PBS as well as through zone of inhibition
via hydrogel diffusion onto S. aureus
seeded blood agar petri dishes. 
Preliminary data is presented upon the experimental design of showing
the reduction of antibiotic resistance emergence with multidrug loaded
hydrogels.  The synergistic effect of
vancomycin and catalase released from a hydrogel illustrates that this system
is potentially effective in vivo as
an infection reducing and preventing medical device.