Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Degradation-tunable coating with sustained silver release for spinal implants to prevent postoperative infections

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.02.035

Figure Lengend Snippet: Characterization of Ag, ZIF-8 and AgZ nanoparticles. (a) TEM images of Ag, ZIF-8, and AgZ nanoparticles. (b) TEM and element mapping images of AgZ. (c) Diameter distribution of nanoparticles. (d) Zeta potential measurements of nanoparticles suspended in PBS. (e) X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of nanoparticles, with black arrows indicating representative silver peaks in AgZ. (f) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of nanoparticles. (g) Mass content of silver and zinc elements in AgZ, as measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). (h) Photograph of nanoparticle dispersions. Nanoparticles were dispersed in PBS (1 mg/mL) by ultrasound and allowed to stand for 10 min at room temperature. The yellow arrow highlights the precipitated Ag nanoparticles. (i) Minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of nanoparticles against MRSA and E. coli . AgZ concentration is expressed in terms of silver equivalent to Ag. All data are presented as mean ± standard deviation from three independent samples or experiments.

Article Snippet: Two bacterial strains, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 43300 (MRSA) and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 ( E. coli ), were used in this study.

Techniques: Zeta Potential Analyzer, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Clinical Proteomics, Mass Spectrometry, Concentration Assay, Standard Deviation

Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Degradation-tunable coating with sustained silver release for spinal implants to prevent postoperative infections

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.02.035

Figure Lengend Snippet: Transcriptomic analysis of gene expression changes in MRSA and E. coli . (a) Heatmap showing the top 20 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of between the AgZ-treated and PBS (control) groups, both upregulated and downregulated, from three biologically independent samples. (b) Volcano plot representing the distribution of DEGs, with a significance threshold of p-value <0.05 and |log 2 FC| > 1. (c) Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis highlighting the enriched pathways in the DEGs between AgZ-treated and PBS-treated bacteria. (d) Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) depicting enriched gene sets. (e) Gene ontology (GO) analysis of differentially expressed genes between AgZ-treated and PBS-treated bacteria.

Article Snippet: Two bacterial strains, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 43300 (MRSA) and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 ( E. coli ), were used in this study.

Techniques: Gene Expression, Control, Bacteria