Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are one of the leading causes of death in the United States. According to Medicare data, HAIs are estimated to cost the country anywhere from 28.1 to 96.8 billion dollars yearly. HAIs typically begin when bacteria attach to the wound and if these wounds are left untreated the infection site can become chronic. Existing clinical standards to treat chronic wounds include topical and oral antibiotics, which can become problematic because of possible antibiotic resistance. Designing a wound dressing to actively kill bacteria on contact would be an effective alternative for chronic wound treatment. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using 1,8-cineole as the plasma feedgas has been shown and demonstrated to actively kill bacteria on glass slides. Yet, these 1,8-cineole-based PECVD strategies have not been extended to wound dressing materials.<br/><br/>The present study's goal is to use 1,8-cineole PECVD to modify commercially-available wound dressing materials (hydrofibers and hydropolymers). Our approach was to deposit a film with antibacterial properties using plasma treatment, where the deposited film chemistry can be controlled by adjusting plasma parameters. The parameter selected was plasma power, specifically to compare pulsing vs. continuous-wave deposition. We hypothesized that pulsing would enable the functional groups to be maintained upon PECVD because the chemical structure gives 1,8-cineole its antibacterial properties. For continuous and pulsed depositions we utilized optimized plasma parameters (P=20 W, treatment time = 20 min). The pulsed depositions used 10%, 25%, or 50% duty cycles. Water contact angle goniometry and scanning electron microscopy were used to evaluate changes in surface wettability and surface morphology, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to determine surface elemental composition. Zone of inhibition testing evaluated the antibacterial properties against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Overall, this work moves towards directly targeting chronic wound infections.

Using 1,8-cineole plasma with both pulsed and continuous depositions to modify commercially-available wound dressing materials

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