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Nanotechnology Applications in Antimicrobials

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2024) | Viewed by 5534

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. INIAV, I.P-National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinarian Research, Rua dos Lagidos, Lugar da Madalena, 4485-655 Vairão, Portugal
2. LEPABE-Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
3. ALiCE-Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Interests: aptamers; nucleic acid mimics; nanosystems; food safety; animal health

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Guest Editor
Centre for Textile Science and Technology (2C2T), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: textile materials; biotechnology; biomaterials; antimicrobials; bioreactor optimization; nanotechnology; environmental biotechnology; industrial biotechnology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microbial infections are still a major threat to human and animal health, mainly due to microbial resistance and tolerance to antimicrobial compounds. Antimicrobial resistance increases hospitalization periods, therapy costs and mortality rates. Currently, we are facing an unbalanced battle against multidrug-resistant microorganisms, where few antibiotics are effective. Moreover, the discovery of new antibiotics has almost stagnated. Resistant microorganisms have emerged as a consequence of the intensive use of antimicrobials and horizontal gene transfer mediated by mobile genetic elements. Researchers have been developing innovative solutions to modulate microbial virulence, prevent the formation of biofilms and reduce the risk of resistant microorganism selection. Nanotechnology can improve existing modern therapies or create novel strategies to improve the efficacy of antibiotic therapies, such as drug delivery systems, and antimicrobial and antifouling surfaces. Nanosystems can create powerful alternative approaches with increased antimicrobial efficiency and the fine tuning of drug release over extended periods of time, avoiding resistance mechanisms and mitigating patient toxicity.

This Special Issue on “Nanotechnology Applications in Antimicrobials&rquo; welcomes original research and reviews with a focus on the most interesting and innovative solutions in the field of design and applications of nanotechnology for antimicrobial solutions.

Dr. Eva Pinho
Dr. Jorge Padrão
Dr. Marta Fernández-García
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • drug delivery
  • antimicrobial therapy
  • biofilm inhibition
  • microbial resistance
  • nanobiomaterials
  • nanostructures

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 6932 KiB  
Article
Zirconia Dental Implants Surface Electric Stimulation Impact on Staphylococcus aureus
by Flávio Rodrigues, Helena F. Pereira, João Pinto, Jorge Padrão, Andrea Zille, Filipe S. Silva, Óscar Carvalho and Sara Madeira
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(11), 5719; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25115719 - 24 May 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 795
Abstract
Tooth loss during the lifetime of an individual is common. A strategy to treat partial or complete edentulous patients is the placement of dental implants. However, dental implants are subject to bacterial colonization and biofilm formation, which cause an infection named peri-implantitis. The [...] Read more.
Tooth loss during the lifetime of an individual is common. A strategy to treat partial or complete edentulous patients is the placement of dental implants. However, dental implants are subject to bacterial colonization and biofilm formation, which cause an infection named peri-implantitis. The existing long-term treatments for peri-implantitis are generally inefficient. Thus, an electrical circuit was produced with zirconia (Zr) samples using a hot-pressing technique to impregnate silver (Ag) through channels and holes to create a path by LASER texturing. The obtained specimens were characterized according to vitro cytotoxicity, to ensure ZrAg non-toxicity. Furthermore, samples were inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus using 6.5 mA of alternating current (AC). The current was delivered using a potentiostat and the influence on the bacterial concentration was assessed. Using AC, the specimens displayed no bacterial adhesion (Log 7 reduction). The in vitro results presented in this study suggest that this kind of treatment can be an alternative and promising strategy to treat and overcome bacterial adhesion around dental implants that can evolve to biofilm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology Applications in Antimicrobials)
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13 pages, 727 KiB  
Article
Differential Analysis of Three Copper-Based Nanomaterials with Different Morphologies to Suppress Alternaria alternata and Safety Evaluation
by Zitong Yuan, Yiwei Li, Yuke He, Kun Qian and Yongqiang Zhang
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(11), 9673; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24119673 - 2 Jun 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1512
Abstract
The overuse of copper-based fertilizers and pesticides over the last few decades has resulted in detrimental risks to our environment. Nano-enabled agrichemicals with a high effective utilization ratio have shown great potential for maintaining or minimizing environmental issues in agriculture. Copper-based nanomaterials (Cu-based [...] Read more.
The overuse of copper-based fertilizers and pesticides over the last few decades has resulted in detrimental risks to our environment. Nano-enabled agrichemicals with a high effective utilization ratio have shown great potential for maintaining or minimizing environmental issues in agriculture. Copper-based nanomaterials (Cu-based NMs) serve as a promising alternative to fungicides. Three types of Cu-based NMs with different morphologies were analyzed for their different antifungal effects on Alternaria alternata in this current study. Compared to commercial copper hydroxide water power (Cu(OH)2 WP), all tested Cu-based NMs, including cuprous oxide nanoparticles (Cu2O NPs), copper nanorods (Cu NRs) and copper nanowires (Cu NWs), especially Cu2O NPs and Cu NWs, showed higher antifungal activity against Alternaria alternata. Its EC50 were 104.24 and 89.40 mg L−1, respectively, achieving comparable activity using a dose approximately 1.6 and 1.9-fold lower. Cu-based NMs could introduce the downregulation of melanin production and soluble protein content. In contrast to trends in antifungal activity, Cu2O NPs showed the strongest power in regulating melanin production and protein content and similarly exhibited the highest acute toxicity to adult zebrafish compared to other Cu-based NMs. These results demonstrate that Cu-based NMs could offer great potential in plant disease management strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology Applications in Antimicrobials)
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15 pages, 2429 KiB  
Article
Effective Multivalent Oriented Presentation of Meningococcal NadA Antigen Trimers by Self-Assembling Ferritin Nanoparticles
by Daniele Veggi, Lucia Dello Iacono, Enrico Malito, Giulietta Maruggi, Fabiola Giusti, Panchali Goswami, Werner Pansegrau, Sara Marchi, Sara Tomei, Enrico Luzzi, Matthew James Bottomley, Federico Fontani, Ilaria Ferlenghi and Maria Scarselli
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(7), 6183; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24076183 - 24 Mar 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2293
Abstract
The presentation of viral antigens on nanoparticles in multivalent arrays has emerged as a valuable technology for vaccines. On the nanoparticle surface, highly ordered, repetitive arrays of antigens can mimic their geometric arrangement on virion surfaces and elicit stronger humoral responses than soluble [...] Read more.
The presentation of viral antigens on nanoparticles in multivalent arrays has emerged as a valuable technology for vaccines. On the nanoparticle surface, highly ordered, repetitive arrays of antigens can mimic their geometric arrangement on virion surfaces and elicit stronger humoral responses than soluble viral antigens. More recently, bacterial antigens have been presented on self-assembling protein nanoparticles and have elicited protective antibody and effective T-helper responses, further supporting the nanoparticle platform as a universal approach for stimulating potent immunogenicity. Here, we present the rational design, structural analysis, and immunogenicity of self-assembling ferritin nanoparticles displaying eight copies of the Neisseria meningitidis trimeric adhesin NadA. We engineered constructs consisting of two different NadA fragments, head only and head with stalk, that we fused to ferritin and expressed in Escherichia coli. Both fusion constructs self-assembled into the expected nanoparticles as determined by Cryo electron microscopy. In mice, the two nanoparticles elicited comparable NadA antibody levels that were 10- to 100-fold higher than those elicited by the corresponding NadA trimer subunits. Further, the NadAferritin nanoparticles potently induced complement-mediated serum bactericidal activity. These findings confirm the value of self-assembling nanoparticles for optimizing the immunogenicity of bacterial antigens and support the broad applicability of the approach to vaccine programs, especially for the presentation of trimeric antigens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology Applications in Antimicrobials)
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