2023 Volume 31 Pages 77-81
Antibacterial and antiviral activities of silk fibers grafted with acrylic acid (AA) and methacrylic acid (MA) as anionic monomers were investigated. The weight gain on graft polymerization was found to be proportional to the monomer concentration. The weight gain reached 24.6% using MA, whereas AA reached only 6.8%. The grafted silk fibers inhibited bacterial growth of Gram-negative bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus. The inhibition efficacy increased linearly with the weight gain. However, AA-grafted silk fibers exhibited significantly greater inhibition than MA-grafted silk fibers, although both grafted samples were comparable in terms of weight gain. The anionic grafted silk fibers also revealed antiviral activity against influenza A virus H1N1. This report is the first describing that silks modified solely by graft polymerization exhibit viral inactivation.
