(June 23, 2012) A coating of
selenium nanoparticles significantly reduces the growth of Staphylococcus
aureus on polycarbonate, a material common in implanted devices such as
catheters and endotracheal tubes, engineers at Brown University report in a new
study.
Selenium is an inexpensive element that naturally
belongs in the body. It is also known to combat bacteria. Still, it had not
been tried as an antibiotic coating on a medical device material. In a new
study, Brown University engineers report that when they used selenium
nanoparticles to coat polycarbonate, the material of catheters and endotracheal
tubes, the results were significant reductions in cultured populations of
Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, sometimes by as much as 90 percent.