Magnetic nanoparticles, the surface of which has been modified with a chemical substance acting as an address for protein receptors of bacterial cells, enables mechanical removal of microorganisms from the analyzed sample. The new material can be used not only for disinfection, but also for the detection of pathogenic microorganisms, informs Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry.
At the time of the discovery of antibiotics, many predicted the ultimate triumph of humanity over disease caused by bacterial infection. Unfortunately, several decades later, despite the synthesis of many different substances with antibacterial activity, people still cannot cope with microscopic pathogenic microorganisms.
For this reason, numerous studies are carried out all over the world, the common goal of which is to develop new methods of fighting bacteria – their detection and effective elimination (therapy of bacterial diseases).
Collaborating scientists from Utrecht University, Wageningen University (The Netherlands), the University of Turku and the University of Helsinki (Finland) have discovered a new nanomaterial that allows not only to detect pathogenic bacteria in the analyzed sample, but also to effectively remove them. Moreover, the newly developed method is very simple and therefore cheap.
Scientists used a long-known feature of bacteria – the presence of protein receptors on their surface, which bind to strictly defined chemical substances. These receptors are used by bacteria, inter alia, when attacking plant and animal (including human) cells.
The surface of magnetic nanoparticles with a diameter of 250 nanometers (nm) was covered with a protein – streptavidin, to which then long chains of carbohydrates were attached, constituting the address for the receptors of Streptococcus suis bacteria. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.
After adding magnetic nanoparticles to the culture of Streptococcus suis bacteria, it turned out that the microorganisms effectively bind to the modified surface of magnetic nanoparticles. This connection is so strong that it is possible with the use of an ordinary magnet to completely remove bacteria associated with the surface of nanoparticles (including nanoparticles) from the tested sample!
According to scientists, the newly developed method of eliminating bacteria requires further research, although even today, at a relatively early stage of experimental work, it is possible to detect bacteria (including for the first time gram positive) using for this purpose receptors located on the surface of microorganisms. The same nanomaterial can also be used to detect contamination with a given species of bacteria. (PAP)