Alternative Approach to the Synthesis of Vinyl Ester Resins-Composites and Their Biomedical Application

The paper presents the results of research on composites containing wood flour and vinyl ester resins as matrices. One of the resins was a commercially available vinyl ester resin (VER) based on bisphenol A, while the other (VPE)-not containing bisphenol A, was obtained by us in an innovative way protected by a patent, whereas light yellow wood flour (WF) powder was obtained from spruce (Picea) and fir (Abies). Due to the fact that vinyl ester resins are characterized by large mechanical and chemical resistance, they are used mainly in the form of composites for the production of everyday products. To verify the possibilities of their biomedical applications, our studies focused on the evaluation and comparison of cytotoxicity of both resins using human skin fibroblasts and their resistance to bacterial bio-film adhesion for the aerobic Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Enterococcus faecalis PCM 896 (Polish Collection of Microorganisms), and the aerobic Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli ATCC 25992.