@article{stanley_scholle_zhu_lu_zhang_situ_ghiladi_2016, title={Photosensitizer-Embedded Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibers as Antimicrobial Non-Woven Textile}, volume={6}, ISSN={2079-4991}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano6040077}, DOI={10.3390/nano6040077}, abstractNote={Toward the objective of developing platform technologies for anti-infective materials based upon photodynamic inactivation, we employed electrospinning to prepare a non-woven textile comprised of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers embedded with a porphyrin-based cationic photosensitizer; termed PAN-Por(+). Photosensitizer loading was determined to be 34.8 nmol/mg material; with thermostability to 300 °C. Antibacterial efficacy was evaluated against four bacteria belonging to the ESKAPE family of pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus; vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium; Acinetobacter baumannii; and Klebsiella pneumonia), as well as Escherichia coli. Our results demonstrated broad photodynamic inactivation of all bacterial strains studied upon illumination (30 min; 65 ± 5 mW/cm2; 400–700 nm) by a minimum of 99.9996+% (5.8 log units) regardless of taxonomic classification. PAN-Por(+) also inactivated human adenovirus-5 (~99.8% reduction in PFU/mL) and vesicular stomatitis virus (>7 log units reduction in PFU/mL). When compared to cellulose-based materials employing this same photosensitizer; the higher levels of photodynamic inactivation achieved here with PAN-Por(+) are likely due to the combined effects of higher photosensitizer loading and a greater surface area imparted by the use of nanofibers. These results demonstrate the potential of photosensitizer-embedded polyacrylonitrile nanofibers to serve as scalable scaffolds for anti-infective or self-sterilizing materials against both bacteria and viruses when employing a photodynamic inactivation mode of action.}, number={4}, journal={Nanomaterials}, publisher={MDPI AG}, author={Stanley, Sarah and Scholle, Frank and Zhu, Jiadeng and Lu, Yao and Zhang, Xiangwu and Situ, Xingci and Ghiladi, Reza}, year={2016}, month={Apr}, pages={77} }