Abstract
Combination therapy of antibiotics and nanoparticles can be used against multi drug resistant microorganisms. Nanoparticles (NPs) have been reported to show antimicrobial activity. The antimicrobial activities of doped ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were studied against fungi, gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria using the standard microdilution method. The interaction between the nanoparticle and the antibiotic was estimated by calculating the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC index) of the combination through checkerboard assay. Experimental results demonstrated that 10% doped zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) exhibited the maximum antimicrobial effect in contrast with that of the 1% loading and pure ZnO nanoparticles. The enhancement in antimicrobial effect was seen when combined with antibiotic. Synergistic and additive effects were found. No antagonistic effect was found. More synergistic effect was observed when combined with ciprofloxacin than ampicillin. Fungus showed only additive effect. The results are quite in terms with MIC clearly depicting that high doping agent is most suitable for combined therapy. 100% synergistic interaction was observed in higher doping with both ciprofloxacin and ampicillin. This study provides a preliminary report of the synergistic activity of nanoparticles with antibiotics against different pathogenic strains. This provides groundwork for further studies on the combination therapy of nanoparticles with antibiotics.
Highlights
The increasing and indiscriminate usage of antibiotics and poor patient compliance has led to the development of bacterial immunity to antibiotics
Synergism of a combination of antibiotics can be stated as fractional inhibitory concentration indices (FICi) derived from a checkerboard titration
The most effective value of Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was obtained against S. typhi (s and c) and E. coli (s) at 0.16±0.01 mg/ml (s and c) and 0.16±0.02 mg/ ml concentrations respectively
Summary
The increasing and indiscriminate usage of antibiotics and poor patient compliance has led to the development of bacterial immunity to antibiotics. Determining the precise public health risk and estimating the gain in prices is not a simple task, there is the slight question that the emerging antibiotic resistance is a serious worldwide problem. The development of vaccines and new antimicrobial agents has not kept pace with resistance; the search for other methods of therapy, such as synergistic combinations, is necessary. Combination therapy is applied with the intention of expanding the antimicrobial spectrum, minimizing toxicity, preventing the emergence of resistant mutants during therapy and obtaining synergistic antimicrobial activity (Eliopoulos and Moellering Jr 1991). The increased clinical response to combination therapy is explained to be due to synergism between the antibiotics used. Synergism of a combination of antibiotics can be stated as fractional inhibitory concentration indices (FICi) derived from a checkerboard titration. An effect which is less than synergistic but not antagonistic is termed as additive or indifference (Rani et al 2009)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
