Abstract
Experimental conditions for evaluating chitosan antibacterial activities were established. The chitosan antibacterial activities were measured against the Staphylococcus aureus and evaluated for their application to antibacterial textile finishing. The strain of Staphylococcus aureus used in this experiments was KCTC 1916. The chitosan antibacterial activities were estimated from the bacterial densities or ％reduction of bacteria in chitosan solutions and bacterial culture mixtures after incubation under specific conditions. Six parameters as follows were evaluated to optimize the experimental conditions for measuring antibacterial activities. The different combinations of mixtures according to the different ratios of chitosan solutions to the bacterial cultures showed different antibacterial activities. However, the chitosan antibacterial activities could be evaluated by comparing the data obtained from the same combinations of mixtures. The solvent influence on the chitosan solution antibacterial activities could be eliminated using control solution containing the same concentration of acetic acid. The initial pH of the chitosan -bacterial mixtures also affected the chitosan antibacterial activity; at a higher pH, higher activity in terms of ％reduction of bacteria was observed. In case of the bacterial solution without either the acetic acid or chitosan, the initial pH of the solution did not significantly affect bacterial growth. The ％ reduction of bacteria increased when contact times of bacteria with chitosan in the chitosan -bacterial mixture were expended upto 24 hours. However, the chitosan antibacterial activities could be successfully evaluated at contact time 0 where the chitosan-bacterial mixture was plated immediately after mixing and incubated to measure the bacterial number to 24 hours. Evaluating ％reduction of bacteria in the test mixtures after incubation were not changed when the inoculated bacterial concentrations were 2.3${\times}$10$\^$0/ml to 2.3${\times}$10$\^$6/ml. The optimal range of incubation time of the petri-Dish after plating the chitosan-bacterial mixture was 24 to 72 hours depending on the antibacterial activities of the test solutions.