Abstract
In the field of public health, treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infection is a great challenge. Herein, we provide a solution to this problem with the use of graphene oxide-silver (GO-Ag) nanocomposites as antibacterial agent. Following established protocols, silver nanoparticles were grown on graphene oxide sheets. Then, a series of in vitro studies were conducted to validate the antibacterial efficiency of the GO-Ag nanocomposites against clinical MDR Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains. GO-Ag nanocomposites showed the highest antibacterial efficiency among tested antimicrobials (graphene oxide, silver nanoparticles, GO-Ag), and synergetic antibacterial effect was observed in GO-Ag nanocomposites treated group. Treatment with 14.0 µg ml−1 GO-Ag could greatly inhibit bacteria growth; remaining bacteria viabilities were 4.4% and 4.1% for MDR-1 and MDR-2 E. coli bacteria, respectively. In addition, with assistance of photothermal effect, effective sterilization could be achieved using GO-Ag nanocomposites as low as 7.0 µg ml−1. Fluorescence imaging and morphology characterization uncovered that bacteria integrity was disrupted after GO-Ag nanocomposites treatment. Cytotoxicity results of GO-Ag using human-derived cell lines (HEK 293T, Hep G2) suggested more than 80% viability remained at 7.0 µg ml−1. All the results proved that GO-Ag nanocomposites are efficient antibacterial agent against multidrug-resistant E. coli.
Highlights
Antibiotics have been widely used for over 70 years in different fields such as medicines, agriculture and environment [1]
All the results proved that graphene oxide (GO)-Ag nanocomposites are efficient antibacterial agent against 2 multidrug-resistant E. coli
atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis revealed both single layer and multilayer sheets existed in synthesized GO
Summary
Antibiotics have been widely used for over 70 years in different fields such as medicines, agriculture and environment [1]. Bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics through acquired resistance genes or intrinsic antibiotic resistance capability [2], which leads to the wide existence of resistant bacteria, including multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, extensively drug-resistant (XDR) bacteria and pandrugresistant bacteria [3]. Antibiotic resistance makes antibiotic selection a great challenge as more and more MDR bacteria were found in patients [4,5,6]. Among all the infections encountered in hospital, urinary tract infections are one of the most common infections, in which case E. coli is found to be the major cause [7]. Spreading of certain type of antibiotic-resistant E. coli may become potential cause for epidemic disease [8]. Due to the wide spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and less efficiency of conventional antibiotics, alternatives are needed to deal with antibiotic-resistant bacteria
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