Enzyme functionalized electrospun chitosan mats for antimicrobial treatment

This work presents electrospun chitosan mats, functionalized with glucose oxidase (GOX) to implement an in-situ hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) generation system. The as spun CTS-PEO mats exhibited a smooth and homogenous morphology in combination with a high specific surface area (5.4m²/g) providing an excellent basis for further functionalization and subsequent glutaraldehyde crosslinking provided them with superior mechanical stability in aqueous environments. GOX was covalently immobilized, as proven by XPS, and resulted in activity recoveries between 20 and 40%. The functional mats generated a steady state concentration of ∼60μM H₂O₂ per cm² which resulted in growth inhibition of E. coli and of S. aureus already after two hours of incubation. Additional cytotoxicity tests of the modified mats against mouse fibroblasts did not show an influence on the viability of the cells which proved it a functional biomaterial of great potential for biomedical applications.