Enhanced Antibacterial Activity of Echinacea angustifolia Extract against Multidrug-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae through Niosome Encapsulation

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-06, Vol.11 (6), p.1573
• Main Authors: Moghtaderi, Maryam, Mirzaie, Amir, Zabet, Negar, Moammeri, Ali, Mansoori-Kermani, Amirreza, Akbarzadeh, Iman, Eshrati Yeganeh, Faten, Chitgarzadeh, Arman, Bagheri Kashtali, Aliasghar, Ren, Qun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibacterial activity; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial agents; Bacteria; Biocompatibility; Cholesterol; Controlled release; Cytotoxicity; Design of experiments; Design optimization; Diameters; Drug delivery; Drug delivery systems; Drug resistance; Echinacea angustifolia; Efficiency; Electron microscopy; Encapsulation; Entrapment; Fibroblasts; Hemodialysis; Herbal medicine; Hydration; Infectious diseases; Klebsiella; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Light scattering; Medicinal plants; Morphology; Multidrug resistance; Nanoparticles; niosome; Nosocomial infections; Oils & fats; Optimization; Photon correlation spectroscopy; Plant diseases; Plant extracts; Scanning electron microscopy; Shelf life; Solvents; Spectrum analysis; stability; Storage stability; Strains (organisms); Surfactants; Toxicity; Transmission electron microscopy
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano11061573

With the increased occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, alternatives to classical antibiotics are urgently needed for treatment of various infectious diseases. Medicinal plant extracts are among the promising candidates due to their bioactive components. The aim of this study was to prepare niosome-encapsulated extract and study its efficacy against multidrug-resistant strains. Encapsulation was first optimized by Design of Experiments, followed by the empirical study. The obtained niosomes were further characterized for the size and morphology using dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Spherical niosomes had a diameter of 142.3 ± 5.1 nm, as measured by DLS. The entrapment efficiency (EE%) of extract reached up to 77.1% ± 0.3%. The prepared niosomes showed a controlled drug release within the tested 72 h and a storage stability of at least 2 months at both 4 and 25 °C. The encapsulated displayed up to 16-fold higher antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant strains, compared to the free extract. Additionally, the niosome exhibited negligible cytotoxicity against human foreskin fibroblasts. We anticipate that the results presented herein could contribute to the preparation of other plant extracts with improved stability and antibacterial activity, and will help reduce the overuse of antibiotics by controlled release of natural-derived drugs.