Protein-Stabilized Silver Nanoparticles Encapsulating Gentamycin for The Therapy of Bacterial Biofilm Infections

Abstract

Aim: An antibiotic-conjugated protein-stabilized nanoparticle hybrid system was developed to combat the challenges faced during the treatment of drug-resistant bacterial biofilm-associated infections. Materials & methods: Biocompatible silver nanoparticles were synthesized using intracellular protein and gentamycin was attached. The resulting nanohybrid was characterized and its antibacterial efficiency was assessed against Gram-positive, Gram-negative and drug-resistant bacteria. Results: Spectroscopic and electron microscopic analysis revealed that the nanoparticles were spherical with a diameter of 2–6 nm. Red-shifting of the surface plasmon peak and an increase in hydrodynamic diameter confirmed attachment of gentamycin. The nanohybrid exhibited antibacterial efficiency against a range of bacteria with the ability to inhibit and disrupt bacterial biofilm. Conclusion: A unique nanohybrid was designed that has potential to be used to control drug-resistant bacterial infections in the future.

Graphical abstract

Keywords::

• antibiotic-entrapped nanohybrid
• antimicrobial therapy
• bacteria
• biocompatible
• biofilm
• drug resistance
• protein-coated nanoparticle

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.2217/nnm-2020-0451

Author contributions

S Nag was responsible for the conceptualization, methodology, data curation, investigation, visualization, formal analysis, validation, writing – original draft, writing – review & editing. A Biswas contributed to the methodology, Data curation. Writing – review & editing was done by D Chattopadhyay. M Bhattacharyya contributed to the conceptualization, supervision, project administration, resources, writing – review & editing.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

S Nag acknowledges Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project (54-ICZMP/3P) under Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal, India, funded by the World Bank (USA) for providing his fellowship and financial support to carry out this work. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that this study was approved by Calcutta University Biosafety and Ethics Committee obeying ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects according to the declaration of Helsinki guideline. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge UGC-CAS, DST–FIST, DBT-IPLS, UGC-UPE in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Calcutta, and Centre for Research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (CRNN), University of Calcutta for providing the instrumental facility and infrastructural support. They also acknowledge Jagadis Bose National Science Talent Search, Kolkata for providing micro-plate reader instrument. They are grateful to Pallippuram Venkitaraman Rajesh, UGC-DAE for his help in using XRD facility and Krishna Kumar (Dept. of Botany, CU) for providing the MRSA strain.

Additional information

Funding

S Nag acknowledges Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project (54-ICZMP/3P) under Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal, India, funded by the World Bank (USA) for providing his fellowship and financial support to carry out this work. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.