Scientists engineer nanostructured surfaces hostile to bacteria but friendly to cells

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created nanostructured alumina surfaces which are strongly antibacterial but can be used to culture cells.

They found that anodic porous alumina (APA) surfaces prepared using electrochemistry in concentrated sulfuric acid had unprecedented resistance to bacterial growth, but did not hamper cell cultures.

The team's technology promises to have a big impact on regenerative medicine, where high quality cell cultures without bacterial contamination may be produced without antibiotics.

In normal cell cultures, antibiotics may be added to the culture medium to prevent the incidence of bacterial contaminants. This has the major drawback of being useless against antibiotic resistant bacteria. In fact, their overuse might again lead to the emergence of more resistant strains. This is not the case with APA surfaces. Cultures may be safely carried out without antibiotic additives.

The team's discovery is good news for regenerative medicine, where cells are cultured in the lab before being introduced to a patient to treat tissue and organ damage. Any bacterial intruder in the cells may have dire consequences for sick patients: this usually entails specialized and costly sterile environments.

Image source: Tokyo Metropolitan University.