# BACTERIAL COLONIZATION OF SURGICAL BIOMATERIALS

> **NIH NIH R01** · MEDICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE · 1993 · $211,050

## Abstract

Progress in the development and use of biomaterials and artificial organs
has been delayed by the serious complications of infection and exaggerated
host inflammatory responses. Biomaterial implants are surrounded by an
immuno-incompetent, fibro-inflammatory, integration deficient zone which
is susceptible to infection due to the adherence of S. epidermidis and
other bacteria, and because of host cellular and humoral immune
perturbation. This proposal is directed to the investigation and
moderation of those crucial problems. Our objectives are to further
characterize bacterial adherence mechanisms and the cellular immune
dysfunction components of biomaterial tissue interface sepsis using an
integrative investigative approach to causal and therapeutic mechanisms
defined in an animal model. Our objective in AIM 1 will test the
effectiveness in vitro and in vivo of antibodies against bacterial
adhesins in blocking colonization of biomaterials by clinically relevant
strains of Staphlococcus epidermidis. These studies will indicate if the
immunization of at risk groups is an effective strategy. AIM 2 will
examine the hypothesis that macrophages will preserve their oxidative and
killing capacity if binding to biomaterials is minimized by surface
modification. AIM 3 will test the effectiveness of a novel in vivo
mechanism to prime macrophages to express augmented killing capacity in
resisting and clearing biomaterial-centered sepsis. AIM 4 will relate the
role of surface microstructure, composition and oxide ultrastructure of a
systematically varied single alloy system Ti6A14V to site-specific
patterns of bacterial adhesion and protein adsorption. This last objective
will include antibody immunogold studies of the adsorption patterns of
proteins of in vivo acquired conditioning films and relate these findings
to data derived from high resolution surface analysis and bacterial
adhesion. We have developed and tested an effective animal model which
will be utilized to examine the ability of antiadhesin antibodies to
prevent and clear biomaterial infection (AIM 1). The macrophage immune
augmentation technique (AIM 3) and the biomaterial coating and
conditioning studies (AIMS 2,4) will also utilize the animal model.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3155480
- **Project number:** 2R01AR026957-07A1
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** ANTHONY G. GRISTINA
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $211,050
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1981-09-30 → 1997-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3155480

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3155480, BACTERIAL COLONIZATION OF SURGICAL BIOMATERIALS (2R01AR026957-07A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3155480. Licensed CC0.

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