A new methodology for simultaneous comparison and optimization between nanoparticles and their drug conjugates against various multidrug-resistant bacterial strains

Abstract

Abstract Background Multidrug-resistant bacteria are becoming more hazardous day by day for human health all over the world, and the scientific community is trying hard to resolve this issue by various approaches. One of the very common approaches is to bind drugs to nanoparticles and study enhanced antibacterial properties. Objective To compare simultaneously different types of nanoparticles, their concentration, bacterial strains and their incubation time intervals for each of the selected drug combination. Methods We have selected the most commonly used gold and silver nanoparticles and few examples from fluoroquinolone antibiotics to make their conjugates and study their efficacy against multidrug-resistant E. coli and S. aureus strains simultaneously, at different incubation time intervals and different concentration of nanoparticles. Results Gold nanoparticle hybrids do not show any significant effect. Silver nanoparticle hybrids show far better results, even at extremely low concentrations. Conclusions This unique and simple approach allows us to know the exact time intervals and concentration required for each nanoparticle combination to control the growth for any specific strain. This approach can be extended to any set of nanoparticles, drugs and bacterial strains for comparative purposes.