Effect of Preparation Additives on the Antimicrobial Activity and Cytotoxicity of Polypyrrole

Abstract

The search for new biomaterials has increased continuously in recent years and, in this context, the application of polypyrrole (PPy) as a promising material for this function has been reported as a result of positive responses, such as bioactivity and biocompatibility. In this study, PPy was obtained through modifications/adaptations made in methodologies of previous papers, which focused mainly on conductive properties. The use of additives in the synthesis significantly improves the application in the biomedical area, which depends directly on a diversity of structural and morphological parameters. Here, physicochemical characterization was helpful to determine PPy structures and morphologies of the resulting samples. The addition of phytic acid (PA) and methyl orange (MO) directly influenced not only the particle morphology and size, but also the antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity. The results of antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli as well as the negligible cytotoxicity of PPy obtained here indicate a wide applicability of the materials in wound dressing and tissue engineering.