Antibiotic resistance
is a significant and growing public health
problem. This work investigated the use of two different carbon nanomaterials,
single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and nanographene oxide (NGO),
as a means of delivering the antibiotic tetracycline to a strain of Escherichia coli bacterium with an efflux pump resistance
mechanism. Both SWNTs and NGO carrying tetracycline were found to
inhibit the resistant strain of Escherichia coli,
though the amount of tetracycline delivered was much lower than the
minimum inhibitory concentration of free tetracycline. Attachment
of the tetracycline to the nanomaterials was found to be necessary
for the inhibition of bacterial growth, indicating that the nanomaterials
were transporting the antibiotic into the cells and subverting the
efflux pump. SWNTs were observed to have greater efficacy in delivering
tetracycline than graphene oxide, which is attributed to the SWNTs’
needle-like shape. This work demonstrates both the use of carbon nanomaterials
as antibiotic-delivery vehicles and the effect of nanomaterial shape
on their efficacy. More importantly, it demonstrates that nanomaterials
can successfully extend the life of existing antibiotics, making them
an important tool for combatting antibiotic resistance mediated by
an efflux pump mechanism.
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