One-pot synthesis of α-Linolenic acid nanoemulsion-templated drug-loaded silica mesocomposites as efficient bactericide against drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Nowadays, pathogenic infection has posed a severe threat to the public health and environmental sanitation, urging a continuous search of efficacious and safe bactericidal agents of various formulated forms. Here, a facile one-pot hydrothermal preparation of mesoporous silica nanoparticles using ultrasonication-assisted nano-emulsion of alpha-Linolenic acid (alpha-LA) as template was developed. The formed silica mesocomposite at water/fatty-acid surface provides an easy yet green synthesis route, which can be generalized for the further encapsulation of hydrophobic drugs such as antimycobacterial Rifampicin (RIF). The obtained alpha-LA nanoemulsion-templated silica nanoparticles (LNS NPs), with a weight content of similar to 17% alpha-LA in the composite, showed apparent anti-bacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). By comparison, the removal of alpha-LA from the silica nanoparticles (LNS-1 NPs) resulted in the composite of enlarged pore size with negligible bactericidal activities. Notably, the Isoniazide (INH) and Rifampicin (RIF)-encapsulated LNS NPs exhibited outstanding anti-mycobacterial activity against both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). The obtained highly biocompatible, biosafe and low-energy consumptive alpha-LA-contained mesostructured silica-based bactericide holds promising therapeutic potentials to tackle the emerging drug-resistant infectious microbes.

Automated summary

Nowadays, finding efficient and safe bactericidal agents to combat pathogenic infections is crucial. In this study, a simple method for preparing mesoporous silica nanoparticles using α-Linolenic acid (α-LA) nano-emulsion as a template was developed. The obtained nanoparticles showed apparent antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and outstanding antimycobacterial activity against drug-sensitive and drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis when encapsulating Rifampicin. This study provides a promising approach to tackle drug-resistant infectious microbes.