Graduate Institute of Toxicology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
PLoS One. 2013 May 21;8(5):e64794. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064794. Print 2013.
The emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae has led to difficulties in treating patients, and novel strategies to prevent and treat this infection are urgently needed. Here, we examined 21 different nanomaterials for their potential activity against N. gonorrhoeae (ATCC 49226). Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs, 120 nm) showed the greatest potency for reducing N. gonorrhoeae colony formation (MIC: 12.5 µg/ml) and possessed the dominant influence on the antibacterial activity with their properties of the nanoparticles within a concentration range that did not induce cytotoxicity in human fibroblasts or epithelial cells. Electron microscopy revealed that the Ag NPs significantly reduced bacterial cell membrane integrity. Furthermore, the use of clinical isolates of multidrug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae showed that combined treatment with 120 nm Ag NPs and cefmetazole produced additive effects. This is the first report to screen the effectiveness of nanomaterials against N. gonorrhoeae, and our results indicate that 120 nm Ag NPs deliver low levels of toxicity to human epithelial cells and could be used as an adjuvant with antibiotic therapy, either for topical use or as a coating for biomaterials, to prevent or treat multidrug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae.
淋球菌对抗生素耐药性的出现和传播导致患者的治疗变得更加困难，因此急需寻找新的策略来预防和治疗这种感染。在这里，我们研究了 21 种不同的纳米材料对淋球菌（ATCC 49226）的潜在活性。银纳米颗粒（Ag NPs，120nm）在减少淋球菌集落形成方面显示出最大的效力（MIC：12.5μg/ml），并且在不诱导人成纤维细胞或上皮细胞细胞毒性的浓度范围内，其纳米颗粒特性对抗菌活性具有主导影响。电子显微镜显示，Ag NPs 显著降低了细菌细胞膜的完整性。此外，使用耐多药淋球菌的临床分离株表明，与头孢美唑联合治疗 120nm Ag NPs 具有相加作用。这是首次筛选纳米材料对淋球菌的有效性的报告，我们的结果表明，120nm Ag NPs 对人上皮细胞的毒性较低，可与抗生素治疗联合使用，无论是局部使用还是作为生物材料的涂层，以预防或治疗耐多药淋球菌。
