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The antibacterial activity in sulphur prevulcanized natural rubber (SPNR) latex film was effectively improved by deposition of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) particles encircled with chitosan-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs-CS). With the focus on a green process, CS was selected as a safe reducing and stabilizing agent for the one-step synthesis of AgNPs-CS (38 nm, +40.4 mV) in an autoclave. The adsorption of small-sized AgNPs-CS directly onto rubber film did not provide an inhibitory effect on S. aureus. It also had a low antibacterial effect on E. coli. This is because of the particles becoming completely/partially submerged into the soft rubber matrix upon drying. Hence, the AgNPs-CS were fabricated as a shell surrounding a rigid PMMA core (496 nm, -30.9 mV). This was done using a heterocoagulation technique prior to coating on SPNR film. The presence of PMMA/AgNPs-CS on the surface of SPNR film effectively increased the surface roughness from ca. 44 to 150 nm. This substantially promoted the antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus by way of contact killing and repelling mechanisms. The cytotoxicity on L-929 fibroblasts was also suppressed. This study would be, therefore, applicable to the development of antibacterial SPNR film with high surface roughness, low cytotoxicity. It could also be applied for other soft substrates., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nanoparticles possessing magnetic and fluorescent properties were fabricated by the covalent attachment of fluorescein isothiocyanate onto magnetic polymeric nanoparticles functionalized by chitosan. The synthesized magnetic polymeric nanoparticles-chitosan/fluorescein isothiocyanate were successfully used for labeling the living organ and blood-related cancer cells, i.e., HeLa, Hep G2, and K562 cells. The cytotoxicity test of nanoparticles at various incubation times indicated the high cell viability (>90%) without morphological change. The confocal microscopy revealed that they could pass through cell membrane within 2 h for K562 cells and 3 h for HeLa and Hep G2 cells and then confine inside cytoplasm of all types of tested cells for at least 24 h. Therefore, the synthesized magnetic polymeric nanoparticles-chitosan/fluorescein isothiocyanate would potentially be used as cell tracking in theranostic applications., (© The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.)

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) latex stabilized by chitosan (CS) oligomer was synthesized via the miniemulsion polymerization. By using 1% CS solution (in 0.1M acetic acid), the spherical PMMA-CS particles with an average size of 380 nm were obtained. The positive zeta potentials at pH 2-7 confirmed the presence of CS as the outermost layer of the latex particles. Therefore, these particles directly interacted with the indigenous non-rubbers at the surface of sulphur prevulcanized natural rubber (SPNR) film. The deposition of PMMA-CS particles caused an increase in surface roughness of the coated SPNR film as a function of latex concentration and immersion time. The simple coating of the rubber substrate with PMMA-CS particles effectively reduced the in vitro cytotoxicity on L-929 cells. This study would be, therefore, helpful for development of latex gloves designed for hypersensitive users., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)