Mesoporous Silica Materials Loaded with Gallic Acid with Antimicrobial Potential
Gabriela Petrisor,
Denisa Ficai,
Ludmila Motelica,
Roxana Doina Trusca,
Alexandra Cătălina Bîrcă,
Bogdan Stefan Vasile,
Georgeta Voicu,
Ovidiu Cristian Oprea,
Augustin Semenescu,
Anton Ficai,
Mircea Ionut Popitiu,
Irina Fierascu,
Radu Claudiu Fierascu,
Elena Lacramioara Radu,
Lilia Matei,
Laura Denisa Dragu,
Ioana Madalina Pitica,
Mihaela Economescu,
Coralia Bleotu
Affiliations
Gabriela Petrisor
Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Denisa Ficai
National Research Center for Food Safety, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei 313, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
Ludmila Motelica
Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Roxana Doina Trusca
Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Alexandra Cătălina Bîrcă
Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Bogdan Stefan Vasile
Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Georgeta Voicu
Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Ovidiu Cristian Oprea
National Research Center for Food Safety, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei 313, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
Augustin Semenescu
Department Engineering and Management for Transports, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
Anton Ficai
Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Mircea Ionut Popitiu
Department of Vascular Surgery and Reconstructive Microsurgery, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Piata Eftimie Murgu, Nr. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Irina Fierascu
National Institute for Research & Development in Chemistry and Petrochemistry—ICECHIM, Splaiul Independentei 202, 060021 Bucharest, Romania
Radu Claudiu Fierascu
National Institute for Research & Development in Chemistry and Petrochemistry—ICECHIM, Splaiul Independentei 202, 060021 Bucharest, Romania
Elena Lacramioara Radu
Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, Mihai Bravu 285, 030304 Bucharest, Romania
Lilia Matei
Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, Mihai Bravu 285, 030304 Bucharest, Romania
Laura Denisa Dragu
Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, Mihai Bravu 285, 030304 Bucharest, Romania
Ioana Madalina Pitica
Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, Mihai Bravu 285, 030304 Bucharest, Romania
Mihaela Economescu
Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, Mihai Bravu 285, 030304 Bucharest, Romania
Coralia Bleotu
Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, Mihai Bravu 285, 030304 Bucharest, Romania
This paper aimed to develop two types of support materials with a mesoporous structure of mobile crystalline matter (known in the literature as MCM, namely MCM-41 and MCM-48) and to load them with gallic acid. Soft templating methodology was chosen for the preparation of the mesoporous structures—the cylindrical micelles with certain structural characteristics being formed due to the hydrophilic and hydrophobic intermolecular forces which occur between the molecules of the surfactants (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide—CTAB) when a minimal micellar ionic concentration is reached. These mesoporous supports were loaded with gallic acid using three different types of MCM—gallic acid ratios (1:0.41; 1:0.82 and 1:1.21)—and their characterizations by FTIR, SEM, XRD, BET and drug release were performed. It is worth mentioning that the loading was carried out using a vacuum-assisted methodology: the mesoporous materials are firstly kept under vacuum at ~0.1 barr for 30 min followed by the addition of the polyphenol solutions. The concentration of the solutions was adapted such that the final volume covered the wet mesoporous support and—in this case—upon reaching normal atmospheric pressure, the solution was pushed inside the pores, and thus the polyphenols were mainly loaded inside the pores. Based on the SBET data, it can be seen that the specific surface area decreased considerably with the increasing ratio of gallic acid; the specific surface area decreased 3.07 and 4.25 times for MCM-41 and MCM-48, respectively. The sample with the highest polyphenol content was further evaluated from a biological point of view, alone or in association with amoxicillin administration. As expected, the MCM-41 and MCM-48 were not protective against infections—but, due to the loading of the gallic acid, a potentiated inhibition was recorded for the tested gram-negative bacterial strains. Moreover, it is important to mention that these systems can be efficient solutions for the recovery of the gut microbiota after exposure to antibiotics, for instance.
