Nanomaterials as Delivery Vehicles and Components of New Strategies to Combat Bacterial Infections: Advantages and Limitations

Abstract

Life-threatening bacterial infections have been well-controlled by antibiotic therapies and this approach has greatly improved the health and lifespan of human beings. However, the rapid and worldwide emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria has forced researchers to find alternative treatments for MDR infections as MDR bacteria can sometimes resist all the present day antibiotic therapies. In this respect, nanomaterials have emerged as innovative antimicrobial agents that can be a potential solution against MDR bacteria. The present review discusses the advantages of nanomaterials as potential medical means and carriers of antibacterial activity, the types of nanomaterials used for antibacterial agents, strategies to tackle toxicity of nanomaterials for clinical applications, and limitations which need extensive studies to overcome. The current progress of using different types of nanomaterials, including new emerging strategies for the single purpose of combating bacterial infections, is also discussed in detail.

Antibacterial potential of Ni-doped zinc oxide nanostructure: comparatively more effective against Gram-negative bacteria including multi-drug resistant strains

“…Moreover, a slight shi in 2q values towards higher diffraction angles was observed for both of the Ni 2+ -doped samples (2NZO and 5NZO) compared with ZO, suggesting successful incorporation of Ni 2+ in the ZnO crystal lattice. 26 The average crystallite size (D) of ZnO crystallites was measured along the (101) crystal plane using the Debye-Scherrer eqn (1).…”

A New Nano-Platform of Erythromycin Combined with Ag Nano-Particle ZnO Nano-Structure against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

“…In recent years, the term multidrug-resistant (MDR) has become synonymous with bacterial infections, which have shown increased resistance to available antibiotics, requiring immediate attention [1]. The real threat of the MDR can be realized by estimating that MDR could cause 10 million annual deaths by 2050, surpassing cancer [1]. In addition, this threat might be exacerbated through the heavy use of antibiotics in the developing COVID-19 pandemic to keep patients away from secondary bacterial infections.…”

Easy One-Pot Low-Temperature Synthesized Ag-ZnO Nanoparticles and Their Activity Against Clinical Isolates of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

“…AMR is easily recognized in hard-to-treat pathogens and has become an alarming issue complicating health care and many other sectors (Eliopoulos et al, 2003;Jasovsky et al, 2016). For instance, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most well-known AMR bacterial species for which immediate intervention is necessary, but even the long considered last-resort antibiotic vancomycin cannot be used in the treatment of MRSA infections since vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) strains have emerged (Naskar and Kim, 2019;Naskar et al, 2020). In addition, AMR S. aureus species are one of 12 families of priority pathogenic bacteria listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for which antibiotics are urgently needed (World Health Organization [WHO], 2017).…”