Antibacterial Activity of Chitosan and Oligochitosan Membranes

Antibiotic resistance poses serious public health problems worldwide. The 2022 European report by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) highlights Klebsiella pneumoniae among the important species causing serious infections in hospitals. Klebsiella pneumoniae is in the category of gram negative bacteria with great resistance to the latest generation antibiotics. Antibacterial activity depends on the characteristics of chitosan such as solubility in acidic or aqueous medium, but also on the peculiarities of the studied strains. Chitosan oligomers continue to attract much scientific interest in different fields like agriculture, biotechnologies, or health. This study aims to make membranes based on chitosan and oligochitosan as well as to obtain a material with presumed medical applications that decreases the adhesion of microorganisms. Therefore, a number of six membranes based on chitosan and oligochitosan were obtained by solubilization in diluted solutions of acetic acid and lactic acid, which were compared from the point of view of antimicrobial activity. The test result reveals important differences related to the manifestation of interaction between bacteria and chitosan membranes made under different temperature conditions and variations in polymer concentration. It is also worth noting the inhibitory effect, comparable to that induced in the blank sample (silicone elastomer) of the combination of chitosan and oligochitosan.