Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aswan University, Aswan, Egypt.
Microbiology Department, Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Agriculture Research Centre (ARC), Qena, Egypt.
Res Vet Sci. 2023 Dec;165:105074. doi: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2023.105074. Epub 2023 Nov 2.
Postpartum endometritis significantly affects the health and productivity of cattle, causing significant economic loss that is speculated to exceed billions of dollars annually. Treatment of postpartum endometritis, which is linked to various bacterial infections in the uterus after delivery and has an alarmingly high risk of antibiotic treatment failure for unidentified reasons, represents a great challenge. Several studies have demonstrated that various disease complications, such as multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains, prolonged infection treatment, and increased mortality risk, have emerged as a result of the extensive use of antibiotics to treat uterine infections and other microbial-related diseases. Recent research has led to the development of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) that exhibit broad-spectrum antibacterial efficacy against bacterial pathogens, including MDR bacteria, without producing mutants that are resistant to zinc oxide (ZnO). In the present work, we biologically synthesized ZnO NPs from a green natural source of Helianthus annuus seeds for the treatment of endometritis caused by MDR bacterial strains in dairy cattle. We examined ZnO's potential as a substitute antimicrobial agent to treat cow endometritis by testing its ability to sustain potent antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria, including Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), in cow uteri. Among uterine bacteria, ZnO significantly decreased E. coli and S. aureus, which are known pathogenic bacteria within the uterus and achieved a high cure rate that was associated with the induction of estrous and pregnancy. Taken together, our observations of ZnO's broad range of antibacterial activity in-vivo with an animal model and subsequent evaluations of its therapeutic efficacy in cows with endometritis shed light on its potential to be used as a substitute antimicrobial agent for the treatment of uterine illness.
产后子宫内膜炎显著影响牛的健康和生产力，造成的经济损失每年估计超过数十亿美元。产后子宫内膜炎的治疗极具挑战性，其与分娩后子宫内的各种细菌感染有关，并且由于不明原因，抗生素治疗失败的风险极高。有几项研究表明，由于广泛使用抗生素治疗子宫感染和其他与微生物相关的疾病，出现了多种疾病并发症，如多药耐药（MDR）细菌株、感染治疗时间延长和死亡率增加。最近的研究导致了氧化锌纳米粒子（ZnO NPs）的发展，它对包括 MDR 细菌在内的细菌病原体具有广谱抗菌功效，而不会产生对氧化锌（ZnO）耐药的突变体。在本工作中，我们从向日葵种子这一绿色天然来源生物合成了 ZnO NPs，用于治疗奶牛 MDR 细菌菌株引起的子宫内膜炎。我们通过测试其在牛子宫内对包括大肠杆菌（E. coli）和金黄色葡萄球菌（S. aureus）在内的病原菌持续保持强大抗菌活性的能力，研究了 ZnO 作为替代抗菌剂治疗奶牛子宫内膜炎的潜力。在子宫内细菌中，ZnO 显著减少了已知在子宫内致病的大肠杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌，实现了高治愈率，与诱导发情和妊娠有关。总之，我们在动物模型中观察到 ZnO 的广泛体内抗菌活性及其随后对患有子宫内膜炎的奶牛的治疗效果评估，表明它有潜力用作治疗子宫疾病的替代抗菌剂。
