Nitric Oxide Reduces Infection from Implants

Nitric oxide can reduce infection from medical implants, such as catheters, artificial organs, and under-the-skin sensors, by a method that mimics the body's own self-defense mechanisms, according to studies conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC, Chapel Hill, USA). More than half of all U.S. hospital-acquired infections have been linked to implanted medical devices.

During a process called phagocytosis, immune system cells engulf bacteria and release high levels of reactive molecules, including nitric acid, to destroy these foreign cells. The researchers hypothesized that polymetric nitric oxide might represent a new approach for reducing bacterial adhesion and infection. They created compounds that released nitric oxide gas continuously for days. They then exposed untreated slides and slides coated with the nitric oxide-releasing compound to solutions of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Bacterial infection was as much as 70% lower on the nitric oxide-releasing slides. In contrast, many conventional antibiotic treatments are of no use today against resistant bacteria.

"Polymetric nitric acid represents a unique strategy, particularly since nitric acid has a short half-life in blood—just a few seconds—and thus would only have an effect on areas near the implant site where it is needed most,” said Dr. Mark Schoenfisch, UNC assistant professor of chemistry.




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