Evaluation of anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial resorcinarene-peptides for biomaterial modification

There is an increase in the use of implantable medical devices for the repair of soft and hard tissue. Many such devices can initiate acute inflammation, or become infected when implanted, resulting in device failure. Alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) is a potent anti-inflammatory hormone, which also possesses antimicrobial properties, produced in the body with very short peptide sequences that make it amenable for easy laboratory synthesis. The aim of this work is to immobilise short MSH peptides onto medical device surfaces using molecules called resorcinarenes, which are known to attach to a wide variety of material surfaces. This is being approached by synthesizing MSH-resorcinarene molecules with the aim of being able to 'dip and dry' treat medical devices with an antiinflammatory and antimicrobial 'coating'.