Strategies to Promote the Journey of Nanoparticles Against Biofilm‐Associated Infections

Abstract

Biofilm‐associated infections are one of the most challenging healthcare threats for humans, accounting for 80% of bacterial infections, leading to persistent and chronic infections. The conventional antibiotics still face their dilemma of poor therapeutic effects due to the high tolerance and resistance led by bacterial biofilm barriers. Nanotechnology‐based antimicrobials, nanoparticles (NPs), are paid attention extensively and considered as promising alternative. This review focuses on the whole journey of NPs against biofilm‐associated infections, and to clarify it clearly, the journey is divided into four processes in sequence as 1) Targeting biofilms, 2) Penetrating biofilm barrier, 3) Attaching to bacterial cells, and 4) Translocating through bacterial cell envelope. Through outlining the compositions and properties of biofilms and bacteria cells, recent advances and present the strategies of each process are comprehensively discussed to combat biofilm‐associated infections, as well as the combined strategies against these infections with drug resistance, aiming to guide the rational design and facilitate wide application of NPs in biofilm‐associated infections.

Polylactic Glycolic Acid-Mediated Delivery of Plectasin Derivative NZ2114 in Staphylococcus epidermidis Biofilms

“…Nanoparticles make a very promising treatment modality for biofilms; the delivery system protects the peptide from pH and enzymatic degradation in complex biofilms while increasing the penetration efficiency of the AMP into the biofilm due to the size effect of the nanoparticles [ 29 , 46 ]. PLGA-encapsulated ciprofloxacin has been reported to be used for the treatment of endodontic infections caused by E. faecalis , and the results of clinical trials have shown its success in eradicating bacteria from biofilms [ 47 ].…”