A new achievement in obtaining durable antibacterial protection for vascular prostheses

Gentamicin covalently bound to bead shaped silica supports or Tricogel (vascular prosthesis) demonstrates stability for even up to 30 days. A comparison was made of the results of gentamicin immobilization to silica supports or Tricogel pieces activated in two modes. Gentamicin retention (during a 30-day experiment) on the Tricogel was shown to be higher than that on silica supports. The release of gentamicin from four matrices was observed only during the first 4 days of the 30-day experiments. The biological activity of gentamicin against "Escherichia coli", "Pseudomonas aeruginosa" and "Staphylococcus aureus" was also checked. In these experiments we used samples of Tricogel irradiated in UV (control), soaked in gentamicin solution or containing gentamicin covalently bound to this matrix. The covalently bound gentamicin was shown to inhibit completely the growth of all the three bacterial strains during the experiment.