Increasing prevalence of chronic wounds and microbial infection constitute a severe health challenge. The situation is further complicated by emerging multidrug resistance making the treatment of infections increasingly difficult. Here, a novel antimicrobial system based on in situ release of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) immobilized on chitosan (CTS) particles is described. Covalent immobilization using carbodiimide coupling lead to a higher amount of protein immobilized on CTS (104 μg CDH/mg CTS) when compared to noncovalent immobilization, which, however, showed highest recovery of CDH activity (0.01 U/mg CTS). The CDH-CTS in situ generated H2O2 completely inhibited growth of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus over a period of 24 h. This resilient antimicrobial system represents a novel strategy for preventing infection with potential application in counteracting microbial colonization of chronic wounds.
Keywords: cellobiose dehydrogenase; chronic wounds; enzyme; hydrogen peroxide; immobilization; infection.