Antibacterial efficacy of core-shell nanostructures encapsulating gentamicin against an in vivo intracellular  Salmonella model

Abstract

Ashish Ranjan1, Nikorn Pothayee2,3, Mohammed N Seleem2, Ronald D Tyler Jr4, Bonnie Brenseke4, Nammalwar Sriranganathan2,4, Judy S Riffle2,3, Ramanathan Kasimanickam11Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, 2Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, 3Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute, 4Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VAAbstract: Pluronic based core-shell nanostructures encapsulating gentamicin were designed in this study. Block copolymers of (PAA–+Na-b-(PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO)-b-PAA– +Na) were blended with PAA– Na+ and complexed with the polycationic antibiotic gentamicin to form nanostructures. Synthesized nanostructures had a hydrodynamic diameter of 210 nm, zeta potentials of –0.7 (±0.2), and incorporated ~20% by weight of gentamicin. Nanostructures upon co-incubation with J774A.1 macrophage cells showed no adverse toxicity in vitro. Nanostructures administered in vivo either at multiple dosage of 5 µg g–1 or single dosage of 15 µg g–1 in AJ-646 mice infected with Salmonella resulted in significant reduction of viable bacteria in the liver and spleen. Histopathological evaluation for concentration-dependent toxicity at a dosage of 15 µg g–1 revealed mineralized deposits in 50% kidney tissues of free gentamicin-treated mice which in contrast was absent in nanostructure-treated mice. Thus, encapsulation of gentamicin in nanostructures may reduce toxicity and improve in vivo bacterial clearance.Keywords: gentamicin, core-shell nanostructures, Salmonella