Antibacterial Activity of Chitosan against Staphylococcus aureus -The Effect of Watersolubility, Degree of Deacetylation and Molecular Weight of Chitosan on Antibacterial Activity-

The antibacterial activities of several types of chitosan were measured against Staphylococcus aureus and evaluated for their application to antibacterial textile finishing. The ％ reduction of bacteria of the chitosans prepared in our laboratory were between 72 and 87%. The two water-soluble chitosans with molecular weights 1,000 and 3,000 did not show antibacterial activities. The deacetylation of chitosan was appeared to increase antibacterial activity. The ％ reduction in bacterial density of the 86％-deacetylated chitosan solution was 56% where that of the 76％-deacetylated chitosan solution was only 17％ at 0.1% chitosan concentration. Molecular weights of the chitosans seemed not to affect antibacterial activities of chitosans. The antibacterial activity of the acid-soluble, 86%-deacetylated chitosan with 4 cps showed 98% of the ％ reduction at the level of 0.2％ chitosan. The ％ reduction of bacteria of this chitosan was higher at the higher concentration of acetic acid in the chitosan-bacterial mixture. The antibacterial activity was increased with the pH change over the range of 4.0 to 6.5. The 100% of the ％ reduction of bacteria was achieved within 4 hour incubation of the chitosan-bacterial mixture. According to the data obtained from the above experiments, the four chitosans among the six prepared in our laboratory were proved to be valuable for antibacterial textile finishing.

포도상구균(Staphylococcus aureus)에 대한 키토산의 항균성 -키토산의 수용성, 탈아세틸화도 및 분자량이 항균성에 미치는 효과-