Background: Isothiouronium salts are well known in their variety of antimicrobials activities. The use of polymeric\nbiocides, polymers with antimicrobial activities, is expected to enhance the efficacy of some existing antimicrobial\nagents, thus minimizing the environmental problems accompanying conventional antimicrobials.\nMethods: The current manuscript describes the synthesis and characterization of crosslinked polyisothiouronium\nmethylstyrene (PITMS) nanoparticles (NPs) of narrow size distribution by dispersion co-polymerization of the monomer\nisothiouronium methylstyrene with the crosslinking monomer ethylene glycol dimetacrylate.\nResults and discussion: The effect of total monomer, crosslinker and initiator concentrations on the size and size\ndistribution of the formed NPs was also elucidated. The bactericidal activity of PITMS NPs of 67 �± 8 nm diameter\nwas illustrated for 4 bacterial pathogens: Listeria innocua, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus\naureus. In order to demonstrate the potential of these PITMS NPs as inhibitor of biofilm formation, polyethylene\nterephthalate (PET) films were thin-coated with the PITMS NPs. The formed PET/PITMS films reduced the viability of\nthe biofilm of Listeria by 2 orders of magnitude, making the coatings excellent candidates for further development of\nnon-fouling surfaces. In addition, PITMS NP coatings were found to be non-toxic in HaCaT cells.\nConclusions: The high antibacterial activity and effective inhibition of bacterial adsorption indicate the potential of\nthese nanoparticles for development of new types of antibacterial and antibiofilm additives.
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