Biology subjects

Zywicka, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Zywicka, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Argon plasma-modified bacterial cellulose filters for protection against respiratory pathogens

Due to the global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the resultant pandemic, there has been a major surge in the demand for surgical masks, respirators, and other air filtration devices. Unfortunately, the fact that these filters are made of petrochemical-derived, non-biodegradable polymers means that the surge in production has also led to a surge in plastic waste. In this work, we present novel, sustainable filters based on bacterial cellulose (BC) functionalized with low-pressure argon plasma (LPP-Ar). The "green" production process involved BC biosynthesis by Komagataeibacter xylinus, followed by simple purification, homogenization, lyophilization, and finally LPP-Ar treatment. The obtained LPP-Ar-functionalized BC-based material (LPP-Ar-BC-bM) showed excellent antimicrobial and antiviral properties, with no cytotoxicity versus murine fibroblasts in vitro. Further, filters consisting of three layers of LPP-Ar-BC-bM had >99% bacterial and viral filtration efficiency, while maintaining sufficiently low airflow resistance (6 mbar at an airflow of 95 L/min). Finally, as a proof-of-concept, we were able to prepare 80 masks with LPP-Ar-BC-bM filter and ~85% of volunteer medical staff assessed them as good or very good in terms of comfort. We conclude that our novel sustainable, biobased, biodegradable filters are suitable for respiratory personal protective equipment (PPE), such as surgical masks and respirators. Further, with scale-up, they may be adapted for indoor air handling filtration in hospitals or schools. Graphical abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=102 SRC="FIGDIR/small/489859v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (46K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@99ae8dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@192c4eforg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@bf2acborg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@92907a_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2021

Potato juice, a starch industry waste, as a cost-effective medium for the biosynthesis of bacterial cellulose

The unique properties of bacterial cellulose (BC) make it of great interest for numerous branches of industry. Nevertheless, the high cost of the dedicated, microbiological medium used for BC production significantly hinders possibility of widespread use. Searching for an alternative, we turned our attention to potato tuber juice (PJ), a major waste product of the potato starch industry. We verified the possibility of using PJ as a cost-effective, ecological-friendly medium that yielded BC with properties equivalent to those from conventional commercial Hestrin-Schramm medium. The BC yield from PJ medium (>4 g/L) was comparable, despite the lack of any pre-treatment. Likewise, the macro- and microstructure, physicochemical parameters, and chemical composition showed no significant differences between PJ and control BC. Importantly, BC obtained from PJ was not cytotoxic against fibroblast cell line L929 in vitro and did not contain any hard-to-remove impurities. These are very important aspects from an application standpoint, particularly in biomedicine. Therefore, we conclude that using PJ for BC biosynthesis is a path towards significant valorization of an environmentally problematic waste product of the starch industry and can help ultimately lower BC production costs. HighlightsO_LIPotato juice (PJ) was used as a culture medium for cellulose-synthesizing bacteria. C_LIO_LIPJ was suitable as source of nutrients and did not required any pre-treatment. C_LIO_LIYield of BC from PJ was equivalent to that obtained from conventional HS. C_LIO_LIPJ-BC did not differ from conventionally produced HS-BC in terms of its properties. C_LIO_LIPJ-BC can be used in the same applications as commercially produced BC. C_LI Graphical abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=88 SRC="FIGDIR/small/452442v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (25K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@5d10c1org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1f71718org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@10d4976org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1521f0a_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2020

Superabsorbent crosslinked bacterial cellulose biomaterials for chronic wound dressings

In this work, we present novel ex situ modification of bacterial cellulose (BC) polymer, that significantly improves its ability to absorb water after drying. The method involves a single inexpensive and easy-to-perform process of BC crosslinking, using citric acid along with catalysts, such as disodium phosphate, sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate or their mixtures. In particular, the mixture of disodium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate was the most promising, yielding significantly greater water capacity (over 5 times higher as compared to the unmodified BC) and slower water release (over 6 times as compared to the unmodified BC). Further, our optimized crosslinked BC had over 1.5x higher water capacity than modern commercial dressings dedicated to highly exuding wounds, while exhibiting no cytotoxic effects against fibroblast cell line L929 in vitro. Therefore, our novel BC biomaterial may find application in super-absorbent dressings, designed for chronic wounds with imbalanced moisture level.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.AbbreviationsBCbacterial celluloseCATcatalystCAcitric acidM1modification with disodium phosphate as a catalyst (CAT)M2modification with sodium bicarbonate as a CATM3modification with mixture of disodium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate in the ratio 1:1 as a CATM4modification with ammonium bicarbonate as a CATM5modification with disodium phosphate and ammonium bicarbonate in the ratio 1:1 as a CATM6modification with sodium bicarbonate and ammonium bicarbonate in the ratio 1:1 as a CATM7modification with sodium hypophosphite as a CATSHPsodium hypophosphiteSRswelling ratioWHCwater holding capacityWPGweight percent gain.View Full Text

bioengineering↗