Resemblance of electrospun collagen nanofibers to their native structure.

Electrospinning is a promising method to mimic the native structure of the extracellular matrix. Collagen is the material of choice, since it is a natural fibrous structural protein. It is an open question how much the spinning process preserves or alters the native structure of collagen.

Damage of the bacterial cell envelope by antimicrobial peptides gramicidin S and PGLa as revealed by transmission and scanning electron microscopy.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to examine the ultrastructural changes in bacteria induced by antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Both the beta-stranded gramicidin S and the alpha-helical peptidyl-glycylleucine-carboxyamide (PGLa) are cationic amphiphilic AMPs known to interact with bacterial membranes. One representative Gram-negative strain, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, and one representative Gram-positive strain, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, were exposed to the AMPs at sub-MICs and supra-MICs in salt-free medium.