Researchers have discovered a potential new way to prevent antibiotic resistance and reduce antibiotic intake, and scientists at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) have been part of the innovative study.
The project examines ways to combat superbugs. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared antimicrobial resistance to be among the top 10 global public health threats. It states that the misuse and overuse of antibiotics is the main driver of drug-resistant superbugs.
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, consequently infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat.
The study however found that the use of nanoparticles in combination with other antibiotics, is an effective strategy to improve bacterial killing, and paves the way forward in fighting multidrug-resistant bacteria.
The research was led by Monash University's Professor Jian Li from the Monash Biomedical Discovery Unit, and Dr Hsin-Hui Shen from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Some bacteria are hard to treat because they are surrounded by an outer membrane that acts as a barrier. ANSTO scientists studied the way treatment interacted with the membrane when supported by cubosomes. They used a beamline instrument called a neutron reflectometer connected to the OPAL reactor at Lucas Heights, to see how cubosomes interact with the bacteria's surface.
"We fabricated artificial surfaces that mimic properties of a bacterial cell surface and used the neutron to investigate how these cubosomes, loaded with the drugs, interacted with the surface structure," ANSTO Instrument Scientist, Dr Anton Le Brun said.
"The results were quite encouraging. We were looking at new approaches for delivering antibiotics to an infection site and found the cubosome has antimicrobial properties when binding to the surface of bacteria...it may substantially increase the effectiveness of the treatment.
"Considering how we can safely use them in the real world is the next. It's only early stages, but this is an incredible piece of research being led by Monash."
