Alternative Approach for Fighting Bacteria and Fungi: Use of Modified Fluorapatite

The recent studies on fluorapatite and hydroxyapatite, in the context of their medical applications, have shown that the former has relatively higher thermal stability and better mechanical properties than the latter. Moreover, the presence of fluoride ions is relevant for protection of teeth from dental caries since they stimulate processes of mineralization and crystallization. In this report, a silver modified fluorapatite (FAP/Ag), considered as a novel biomedical compound, was tested for its bactericidal, fungicidal and cytotoxicity activity. All these features were compared to the impact of pure FAP and were evaluated against the bacteria and fungi strains, which constitute main pathogenic species among orthopedic clinical isolates of implant-associated infections. Generally, considerable increase in the antimicrobial activity was observed when silver modified fluorapatite was compared to the pure material. This was manifested among others by disturbance of cell growth pattern and various deformations in the final cell shape as revealed using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Regarding toxicity nowadays as a major issue in implantation, we additionally examined whether the Ag⁺ ions have an impact on human keratinocytes and mouse fibroblasts using a cytotoxicity assay. To conclude, owing to a great bactericidal potential without collateral cytotoxicity effect the fluorapatite doped with silver ions may be considered a promising biocomponent useful in medical and healthcare applications.