Bacterial infection of biomaterials is a major clinical problem and the most important factor for failure of medical devices. Therefore, the development of multifunctional biomaterials that possess antibacterial properties and can resist infection is a continual goal for biomedical applications. Nitric oxide (NO), a free radical gas molecule, is a principal component of the innate immune system and functions as a potent antimicrobial agent. Different types of NO donors have been previously incorporated into polymers of both natural and synthetic origin for a variety of biomedical applications including drug delivery, medical device coatings, implantable biomaterials, and tissue engineering scaffolds. Due to their reproducible characteristics in terms of molecular weight, degradation kinetics, and mechanical properties, synthetic polymers are attractive for a variety of biomedical applications. However, from the biological standpoint, synthetic polymers often lack much-desired bioactivity and biocompatibility, which may translate into adverse side effects. Natural polymers on the other hand are abundant and resemble the components present in biological extracellular matrices. Thus, they are readily accepted by the body and possess high bioactivity and biocompatibility. Despite a large body of research existing on NO releasing materials, the use of natural materials for NO delivery and other biomedical applications have not yet been extensively explored. In this dissertation antibacterial NO-releasing platforms in different formats, (i) nanoparticles, (ii) hydrogels, and (iii) nanofibers, were developed based on naturally derived materials for versatile biomedical applications.
