Feasibility of a Chronic Foreign Body Infection Model Studying the Influence of TiO2 Nanotube Layers on Bacterial Contamination

Bacterial infections on the surface of medical devices are a significant problem in therapeutic approach, especially when implants are used in the living. In cardiology, pacemaker generator pocket surfaces, made in titanium alloy can be colonized by pathogen microorganism. This contamination represents a major risk of sepsis, endocarditis and localized infections for patients. A way to limit this bacterial contamination is to modify the surface topography using nano-structuration process of the titanium alloy surface of the implanted devices. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of TiO2 nanotube layers on bacterial infection in the living, considering the feasibility of an animal model of chronic foreign body infection. TiO2 nanotube layers prepared by electrochemical anodization of Ti foil in 0.4 wt% hydrofluoric acid solution were implanted subcutaneously in Wistar rats. Three weeks after implantation, TiO2 implants were contaminated by a Staphylococcus epidermilis strain using two different concentrations at 106 and 108 colony forming unit (CFU) in order to induce a sufficient infection level and to avoid unwanted over infection consequences on rats health during the experiments. After 28 days in the living, 75% of nanotube layers initially submitted to the 108 CFU inoculum were contaminated while only 25% nanotube layers initially submitted to the 106 CFU inoculum remained infected. This significant result underlines the influence of TiO2 nanotube layers in decreasing the infection level. Our in vitro experiments showed that the synthesized TiO2 nanotubes indeed decreased the Staphylococcus epidermilis adhesion compared to unanodized Ti foil.

Atmospheric photochemistry and secondary aerosol formation of urban air in Lyon,France

Photochemical aging of volatile organic compounds(VOCs)in the atmosphere is an important source of secondary organic aerosol(SOA).To evaluate the formation potential of SOA at an urban site in Lyon(France),an outdoor experiment using a Potential Aerosol Mass(PAM)oxidation flow reactor(OFR)was conducted throughout entire days during JanuaryFebruary 2017.Diurnal variation of SOA formations and their correlation with OH radical exposure(OHexp),ambient pollutants(VOCs and particulate matters,PM),Relative Humidity(RH),and temperature were explored in this study.Ambient urban air was exposed to high concentration of OH radicals with OHexp in range of(0.2-1.2)×10^12 molecule/(cm^3·sec),corresponding to several days to weeks of equivalent atmospheric photochemical aging.The results informed that urban air at Lyon has high potency to contribute to SOA,and these SOA productions were favored from OH radical photochemical oxidation rather than via ozonolysis.Maximum SOA formation(36μg/m^3)was obtained at OHexp of about 7.4×10^11 molecule/(cm^3·sec),equivalent to approximately 5 days of atmospheric oxidation.The correlation between SOA formation and ambient environment conditions(RH&temperature,VOCs and PM)was observed.It was the first time to estimate SOA formation potential from ambient air over a long period in urban environment of Lyon.