Antibacterial Activity of Antimicrobial Peptide (AMP) Grafted Polystyrene Surface

Bacterial colonization and infections associated with biomaterial surfaces pose common threat to patient safety and health care. Antibacterial coating on such surfaces provides significant approach toward addressing this clinical issue. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are suitable alternative to conventional antibiotics because of their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, low propensity toward pathogen resistance, and low immune response. In this study, a designed peptide, CKLLLRLRKLLRR (CKLR), is immobilized on maleimide-activated polystyrene plates via maleimide–thiol reaction of the sulfhydryl (–SH) group available at its N-terminal. Qualitative screening method including colony-forming units (CFU) assay is performed in 96-well plate to evaluate antibacterial efficacy of immobilized CKLR. Bacterial viability assays show nearly 100% reduction in the growth of both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Findings of this study indicate that CKLR is potent to develop infection-resistant biomaterial surfaces. Such efficient immobilization strategies can be tailored to eliminate bacterial infections arising from surfaces, thereby rendering antimicrobial biomaterials.