Magnetite nanoparticles for functionalized textile dressing to prevent fungal biofilms development

The purpose of this work was to investigate the potential of functionalized magnetite nanoparticles to improve the antibiofilm properties of textile dressing, tested in vitro against monospecific Candida albicans biofilms. Functionalized magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)/C(18)), with an average size not exceeding 20 nm, has been synthesized by precipitation of ferric and ferrous salts in aqueous solution of oleic acid (C(18)) and NaOH. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and differential thermal analysis coupled with thermo gravimetric analysis were used as characterization methods for the synthesized Fe(3)O(4)/C(18). Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the architecture of the fungal biofilm developed on the functionalized textile dressing samples and culture-based methods for the quantitative assay of the biofilm-embedded yeast cells. The optimized textile dressing samples proved to be more resistant to C. albicans colonization, as compared to the uncoated ones; these functionalized surfaces-based approaches are very useful in the prevention of wound microbial contamination and subsequent biofilm development on viable tissues or implanted devices.