Carboxylic acid mediated antimicrobial activity of silicone elastomers.

Due to their high biocompatibility silicone elastomers are the material of choice in many sensitive health care applications. However, the inherent hydrophobicity of the polymer makes silicones more susceptible to spontaneous protein adsorption and subsequent biofilm formation than more hydrophilic abiotic materials. Hence, the development of antimicrobial silicone elastomers could help to reduce potential biofilm-associated infections when using silicone based medical devices. In this study, we describe carboxylic-acid-modified silicone elastomers that are biocompatible and exhibit a specific antimicrobial activity against clinically relevant pathogens even after being stored in common packaging materials.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors Andreas Koellnberger, Rainer Schrader, Christoph Briehn declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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