Development of gold nanoparticles coated with silica containing the antibiofilm drug cinnamaldehyde and their effects on pathogenic bacteria

Emerging resistance to antibiotics is a mounting worldwide health concern and increases the need for nonantibiotic strategies to combat infectious diseases caused by bacterial pathogens. In this study, the authors used the antibiofilm activity of the naturally occurring antimicrobial cinnamaldehyde (CNMA) conjugated to the surface of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) to deliver CNMA efficiently and eradicate biofilms of Gram-negative organisms (enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), Gram positive (methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus organisms, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. CNMA-GNPs containing 0.005% (v/v) of CNMA were found to inhibit biofilm formation efficiently. The distributions of nanoparticles in biofilm cells and their biofilm disruption activities, including distorted cell morphology, were determined by transmission electron microscopy. In addition to their antibiofilm activities, CNMA-GNPs attenuated S. aureus virulence and protected Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) worms. Here, the authors report the antibiofilm effects of CNMA-GNPs and suggest that they could be used to treat pathogenic bacterial infections in vivo.