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Updated: Dec 24, 2025
Biomimetic Materials to Characterize Bacteria-host Interactions
Published on: November 16, 2015
pH-dependent adhesion of mycobacteria to surface-modified polymer nanofibers
Lizl Cronje1, Robin Warren, Bert Klumperman
1Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, 7602 Matieland, South Africa. lcronje@sun.ac.za.
Insights
Researchers developed a modified polymer nanofiber mat to capture Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB pathogen). This innovation aids in the timely and accurate diagnosis of TB in children, improving treatment outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Infectious Disease Diagnostics
- Polymer Chemistry
Background:
- Tuberculosis (TB) significantly impacts children globally, necessitating rapid and precise diagnostics for effective treatment.
- Current diagnostic methods for TB can be challenging, especially in pediatric cases, highlighting the need for improved capture technologies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a modified polymer capable of capturing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) under various pH conditions.
- To assess the efficacy of electrospun nanofibrous mats as platforms for mycobacterium capture.
Main Methods:
- A polymer was modified to create affinity for M. tuberculosis and electrospun into nanofibrous mats.
- Affinity studies were performed using Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and M. tuberculosis.
- Concentration, time, and pH-dependent capture efficiency were evaluated.
Main Results:
- The modified polymer nanofibers successfully captured M. tuberculosis and BCG across different pH levels.
- Capture efficiency was dependent on incubation time and mycobacterial concentration.
- Optimized polymer hydrophobicity was crucial for effective wetting and capture; aggregation facilitated microscopy detection.
Conclusions:
- A modified polymer nanofibrous surface was successfully developed for capturing M. tuberculosis.
- This platform simplifies the detection of M. tuberculosis, offering a potential advancement in TB diagnostics.
- The findings support the use of these nanofibrous mats for improved TB detection in clinical settings.
Abstract:
Children across the world are greatly affected by tuberculosis (TB) due to high morbidity and mortality. It is important to diagnose TB in children timeously and accurately in order to provide effective treatment. In this study we aimed to test the hypothesis that a modified polymer could be developed to capture Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), the pathogen that causes TB, under different pH conditions, mimicking different clinical specimens. The modified polymer was electrospun into nanofibrous mats thereby ensuring optimal surface areas. Affinity studies were conducted on these modified polymer nanofibers with Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and verified with M. tuberculosis to evaluate these nanofibrous surfaces as mycobacterium-capturing platforms. The results indicate that BCG and M. tuberculosis were successfully captured under different pH conditions depending on the affinity ligand. Concentration and time studies showed that binding efficiency is dependent on the incubation time and the concentration of mycobacteria. The affinity studies also reveal that the nanofibrous-capturing polymer should not be too hydrophobic in character as this causes poor wetting of the modified nanofibers, thus preventing close contact with the mycobacteria and a reduction in the capture effectivity of the polymer nanofibers. The detection of M. tuberculosis using microscopy is simplified by the tendency of the mycobacteria to aggregate on the hydrophobic surface of the modified nanofibers. As a result of this aggregation, fluorescence and light microscopy are regarded as feasible detection methods to image M. tuberculosis on the surface of the modified nanofibers, even at relatively low concentration. In this study a polymer was therefore successfully modified in such a way that it acquired an affinity for M. tuberculosis and enabled the capture of this organism onto the modified polymer nanofibrous surface.
