Gold@mesoporous silica nanocarriers for the effective delivery of antibiotics and by‑passing of β‑lactam resistance

摘要

Current antibiotics effectiveness relies on higher doses and administration frequency, which are responsible for thegrowth of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is one of the major threatening issues of the century with last-line antibioticsalready failing. To overcome such problems associated with bacterial infections, nanoparticles combined withantibiotics emerged as a promising strategy. In this work, nanocarriers comprising of gold–silica core–shell mesoporousnanoparticles (Au@MNs) and silica mesoporous nanoparticles (MNs) were synthesized, loaded with amoxicillin (Amox)and ofloxacin and investigated regarding its antibacterial activity towards S. aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA),E. coli and P. aeruginosa. Both nanocarriers showed a beneficial role in the effective delivery of amoxicillin against MRSAand the well-known β-lactam resistant P. aeruginosa. Reductions of 10-fold (Amox@MNs) and 20-fold (Amox@Au@MNs)in the amount of antibiotic to treat P. aeruginosa; and a reduction of 20-fold (Amox@MNs) towards MRSA allied to a fullreversion of resistance, strongly supports the promising potential of these nanocarriers to tackle antibiotics resistance.