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Combination Therapy of Clinically Approved Antifungal Drugs Is Enhanced by Conjugation with Silver Nanoparticles

Authors :
Dania Ahmed
Samina Perveen
Itrat Anis
Naveed Ahmed Khan
Muhammad Asim Hussain
Muhammad Raza Shah
Ayaz Anwar
Shakil Ahmed
Source :
International Microbiology. 22:239-246
Publication Year :
2018
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2018.

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (SN) have been recently developed as a new class of antimicrobial agents against numerous pathogenic microorganisms. SN have also been used as efficient drug delivery systems and have been linked with increasing drug potency. Here, we demonstrated the enhanced antifungal efficacy of nystatin (NYT) and fluconazole (FLU) after conjugation with SN. The antifungal bioactivity of NYT- and FLU-coated SN was evaluated against Candida albicans ATCC 10231 and Aspergillus brasiliensis ATCC 16404 by the agar tube dilution method. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the antifungal efficacy of NYT and FLU with their SN and, finally, the combination of both nanoparticles as NYT-SN + FLU-SN against pathogenic fungi. The results indicated that all test samples showed a dose-dependent response against tested fungi. SN significantly enhanced the antifungal effects of NYT and FLU as compared to drugs alone. We observed a remarkable increase in the percent inhibition of both fungi (90-100%) when treated with a combination of both nanoparticles NYT-SN + FLU-SN at 200 μg/mL only. Furthermore, the morphological modifications occurred at the surface of fungal species were also analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). While tested against primary human cell line, all SN showed negligible cytotoxicity. Hence, these results suggest that the combination of SN with NYT and FLU may have clinical implications in the treatment of fungal infections. However, in vivo studies are needed before recommending the use of these nanoparticles safely in clinical situations.

Details

ISSN :
16181905 and 11396709
Volume :
22
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
International Microbiology
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....e134e04b89df08e61673d17e08521e65
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-018-00043-3