Ciprofloxacin-loaded chitosan nanoparticles as titanium coatings: a valuable strategy to prevent implant-associated infections.

Implant-associated infections represent an occasional but serious problem in dental and/or orthopaedic surgery. A possible solution to prevent the initial bacterial adhesion may be the coating of the implant surface with a thin layer of antibiotic-loaded biocompatible polymer. Hydrogels are one of the promising and versatile materials as antibiotic controlled release systems. In this work, antibiotic-modified poly(ethylene-glycol diacrylate) hydrogel titanium coatings were prepared by electrochemical polymerization and tested against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 33591). Two different methods to load vancomycin and ceftriaxone were used. These coating tested against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 33591). We show that the proposed titanium coatings displayed an interesting antibacterial activity, however, further studies on their effective cytotoxicity will furnish evidence of their real clinical efficacy.