Antimicrobial analysis of films processed from chitosan and N,N,N-trimethylchitosan

Chitosan and its derivatives have been proposed as bactericidal and fungicidal agents against a large numbers of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and fungi. Some antimicrobial mechanisms have been proposed for chitosan, with the most widely acceptable being the presence of charged-NH3+ groups in the polymer backbone and its interactions with the bacterial wall constituents. Since this mechanism is based on an electrostatic interaction, it suggests that the greater the number of cationic amines, the higher will be the antimicrobial activity. So, in the present study, the effectiveness of commercial medium molecular weight chitosan and its ionic charged derivative (quaternized N,N,N-trimethylchitosan) were evaluated. Cast films of both materials were assessed against Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive) and Escherichia coli (gram-negative) as model bacteria by inhibition zone formation. The results show positive activity against the gram-positive microorganism for both materials. The antibacterial effectiveness of the chitosan derivative was dependent on the film polymer concentration. No activity however, was observed against the gram-negative species for either material in film form. The results point to the possibility of considering different antimicrobial mechanisms acting on each type of bacteria.