Evaluation of Chitosan Nanomaterials in the Treatment of Helicobacter pylori Mediated Gastric Diseases

Abstract

We assessed the effect of chitosan on Helicobacter pylori (HPY) in vitro to provide an experimental basis for the clinical application of chitosan in the treatment of gastric diseases. Here, the method of hole drilling was used to detect the bacteriostatic effect of different concentrations and pH values of chitosan on the standard bacterial strain Sydney strain I (SSI) and two strains of HPY isolated from patients. The bacteriostatic test was used to explore the effect of different molecular weights of chitosan and metal ions on the antibacterial effect of chitosan. The effect of chitosan showed no significant difference among three HPY strains (p < 0.05); moreover, in the range of pH 5.5–8.5, the antibacterial effect of chitosan increased with decrease in pH value (p < 0.01). A significant difference in the antibacterial effect of chitosan was observed at different concentrations (p < 0.01), reaching a peak at 40 g/mL. The molecular weight of chitosan was within 400 kb. With increasing molecular weight, the antibacterial activity of chitosan increased initially and then decreased. The molecular weight of 0.200 kb demonstrated the strongest anti-HPY effect, with the antibacterial effect observed for up to 134 h. Metal ions such as NaCl and MgCl2 affected the anti-HPY effect of chitosan; with increasing concentration, the antibacterial percentage decreased.