Improving the Effects of Antibiotics Through Their Micro-Encapsulation with Nanoparticles

 Resistance of pathogenic bacteria to antimicrobial agents is a silent epidemic threatening the effectiveness of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs.

This article is a review and was prepared by systematically searching original articles from 2011 to 2024 using Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, BIO ONE, and Google Scholar databases. For this purpose, related keywords, including "Resistance to antibiotics," "Encapsulation of antibiotics in nanoparticles," and "Nanoparticles safety" were used. After removing duplicate and unrelated studies, 59 studies were included.

 Measuring the social, economic, and environmental impacts of drug-resistant microorganisms is challenging, but their significance is undeniable. Various nanomedicines based on organic nano-systems (liposomes, polymer micelles, and polymer nanoparticles) and inorganic nano-systems have been proposed to combat drug-resistant pathogens. Nanoparticles can have a synergistic effect on antibiotics by forming active hydroxyl radicals, changes in cellular defense activities, and anti-biofilm effects. Also, nanoparticles with low toxicity, high efficiency, the ability to penetrate the host cells, and the ability to release the drug at a specific location can be highly effective carriers for antibiotics. Among these carriers are liposomes with hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties, micelles carrying water-soluble drugs, and polymer nanoparticles that break the resistance of multidrug-resistant strains and biofilms. Meanwhile, biodegradable polymers have higher safety.

 Various antibiotic delivery systems have been developed using nanoparticles, but further research is still needed to design more effective systems with a high level of safety.