The ability of streptomycin-loaded chitosan-coated magnetic nanocomposites to possess antimicrobial and antituberculosis activities

Abstract

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized by the coprecipitation of Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ iron salts in alkali media. MNPs were coated by chitosan (CS) to produce CS-MNPs. Streptomycin (Strep) was loaded onto the surface of CS-MNPs to form a Strep-CS-MNP nanocomposite. MNPs, CS-MNPs, and the nanocomposites were subsequently characterized using X-ray diffraction and were evaluated for their antibacterial activity. The antimicrobial activity of the as-synthesized nanoparticles was evaluated using different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as Mycobacterium tuberculosis . For the first time, it was found that the nanoparticles showed antimicrobial activities against the tested microorganisms (albeit with a more pronounced effect against Gram-negative than Gram-positive bacteria), and thus, should be further studied as a novel nano-antibiotic for numerous antimicrobial and antituberculosis applications. Moreover, since these nanoparticle bacteria fighters are magnetic, one can easily envision magnetic field direction of these nanoparticles to fight unwanted microorganism presence on demand. Due to the ability of magnetic nanoparticles to increase the sensitivity of imaging modalities (such as magnetic resonance imaging), these novel nanoparticles can also be used to diagnose the presence of such microorganisms. In summary, although requiring further investigation, this study introduces for the first time a new type of magnetic nanoparticle with microorganism theranostic properties as a potential tool to both diagnose and treat diverse microbial and tuberculosis infections.

Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications: A Perspective on Synthesis, Drugs, Antimicrobial Activity, and Toxicity

“…The emergence of highly resistant bacterial strains and the reduced alternatives to conventional antibiotics has aroused interest in the design of antibiotic-carrier nanosystems. IONPs functionalized with CS have been used as carriers of streptomycin [ 189 , 190 ]. As a physical mixture, this antibiotic showed a rapid release (20 min) in phosphate-buffered saline, while in the form of a nanosystem its full release was completed only after 350 min, indicating the ability of IONPs to act in controlled-release systems [ 189 ].…”

Biodistribution, biocompatibility and targeted accumulation of magnetic nanoporous silica nanoparticles as drug carrier in orthopedics

“…Magnetic nanoparticles are already versatilely used in research and partly in clinical issues for hyperthermia or drug delivery in tumor [31][32][33][34][35] and infection treatment [36,37], as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging [38][39][40], and others [41,42]. The biocompatibility of certain magnetic nanoparticles with different composition, magnetic properties or size has already been published [43,44].…”

Magnetic Nanoconjugated Teicoplanin: A Novel Tool for Bacterial Infection Site Targeting

“…According to other authors ( Huang et al, 2010 ; Ebrahiminezhad et al, 2014 ), IONP surface functionalization with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) elicited an antimicrobial effect by creating a high density of amino groups, which could interact with negatively charged sites on the bacterial cells through electrostatic interactions. The well-developed surface chemistry of IONPs made it possible to incorporate a variety of commonly used antibiotics such as the β-lactam amoxicillin, penicillin, and ampicillin, the aminoglycoside streptomycin, and the glycopeptide vancomycin ( Chifiriuc et al, 2013 ; Grumezescu et al, 2014 ; Hussein-Al-Ali et al, 2014 ; El Zowalaty et al, 2015 ; Wang et al, 2017 ), providing evidence that biocompatible magnetic NPs might enable site-specific antibiotic delivery. Vancomycin-carrying, folic acid-tagged chitosan NPs were successfully used to deliver vancomycin to bacterial cells ( Chakraborty et al, 2010 , 2012 ), and vancomycin-modified mesoporous silica NPs were used for selective recognition and killing of Gram-positive bacteria over macrophage-like cells ( Qi et al, 2013 ).…”