Simultaneous immobilization of heparin and gentamicin on polypropylene textiles: a dual therapeutic activity

The aim of this work was to prepare a nonwoven polypropylene (PP) textile functionalized with bioactive molecules in order to improve simultaneously anticoagulation and antibacterial properties. The immobilization of either heparin (anticoagulation agent) or gentamicin (aminoglycoside class antibiotic) alone has already been proven to be effective on PP nonwoven textiles. In this work, we managed to go further, by immobilizing both heparin and gentamicin at the same time on one unique textile. A successive immersion in different heparin and gentamicin bathes successfully led to a dual drug coated textile, as confirmed by several characterization techniques (Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy). The immobilization times were varied in order to determine the best compromise between cytocompatibility, anticoagulant effect, and antimicrobial activity. Short immersion times in gentamicin solutions confer very good antimicrobial activity to the textile and avoid cytotoxicity, whereas long immersion times in heparin solution were necessary to observe a significant anticoagulant effect.