Durable and Effective Antibacterial Cotton Fabric Collaborated with Polypropylene Tissue Mesh for Abdominal Wall Defect Repair

A feasible, efficient antibacterial and anti-infective mesh for clinical abdominal wall defect repair is significant, but challenging due to the complexity of the postoperative wound environment. Herein, a simple strategy was provided to construct woven cotton fabric modified with gentamicin (Gem) via the enamine bonds. The obtained cotton fabric possessed favorable antibacterial properties against E. coli and S. aureus with the bactericidal rate of over 99.99% and could be combined with a commercial polypropylene (PP) mesh to serve as a two-layer composite mesh for abdominal wall defect repair. The antibacterial cotton layer was systematically characterized by FTIR, XPS, SEM, EDS, and mechanical measurements. The C2C12 cells and human fibroblasts were employed to assess the cytocompatibility of the composite mesh in vitro. Furthermore, the rat abdominal wall defect model was used to evaluate the efficacy of antibacterial and anti-infection properties. It was demonstrated that the two-layer composite mesh possessed favorable biocompatibility and satisfactory anti-infection properties involved in abdominal wall defect repair. Therefore, this synergetic two-layer composite mesh would out-perform surgical PP meshes in preventing infectious complications.