title: Water dispersible magnetite nanoparticles influence the efficacy of antibiotics against planktonic and biofilm embedded Enterococcus faecalis cells.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of magnetic nanoparticles to potentiate, but also to accomplish a sustained and controlled drug release and subsequently improve the efficacy of antibiotics against Enterococcus faecalis, one of the most resistant opportunistic pathogens, that poses a threat to chronically infected or immunocompromised patients and is difficult to eradicate from medical devices. To our knowledge, this is the first study trying to investigate the ability of magnetite nanoparticles to improve the anti-bacterial activity of the current antibiotics against planktonic and biofilm growing E. faecalis. Our results are suggesting that the magnetite nanoparticles may be considered an effective aminoglycoside antibiotics carrier, but a complete understanding of the way in which they selectively interact with different antibiotics and with the bacterial cell is needed, in order to obtain improved strategies for elimination of E. faecalis biofilms on biomedical devices or human tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Mariana Carmen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chifiriuc
authors.forename: Alexandru Mihai
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Grumezescu
authors.forename: Ecaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Andronescu
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ficai
authors.forename: Ani Ioana
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Cotar
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grumezescu
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bezirtzoglou
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lazar
authors.forename: Radu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Radulescu
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects*; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000187:drug effects*; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D050296:Microbial Viability; D010933:Plankton / Q000187:drug effects*; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D014867:Water
keywords: Antibiotics; Biofilms; Disk diffusion; Enterococcus faecalis; Magnetite nanoparticles; Minimal inhibitory concentration