Title : Nanoantibiotics An Emerging Strategy to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance in Cardiovascular Infections
Abstract:
AMR presents a significant challenge for controlling cardiovascular infections, especially infective endocarditis (IE) since persistent bacteremia, biofilm formation and infection of cardiac valves affect conventional antimicrobial therapy. Nanoantibiotics have recently gained interest as potential nanotechnology-based approaches to overcome these limitations by enhancing antimicrobial delivery, penetration into bacterial biofilms and controlled or targeted drug release. Metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles as well as liposomal formulations, polymeric nanocarriers and other nanoengineered platforms have shown good antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity against many clinically relevant pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
This review focuses on the development of nanoantibiotic strategies against cardiovascular infections, in particular nanoparticle synthesis and physicochemical characterization, antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities, synergy with conventional antibiotics as well as safety aspects. Nanoformulations may improve antimicrobial activity and promote bacterial clearance compared to free antimicrobial agents, but substantial heterogeneity among experimental designs, nanomaterial characteristics, infection models and outcome reporting prevent direct comparison between studies. Quantitative endpoints, for example bacterial burden expressed as log?? CFU per infected valve or gram of cardiac tissue, are rarely reported, underscoring the need for harmonization of efficacy endpoints and dose characterization.
Green synthesis of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles represents an additional area of interest because of its potential to reduce the use of hazardous chemical reagents while generating nanomaterials with biologically relevant antimicrobial properties. However, the translation of nanoantibiotics from experimental research to clinical application requires rigorous evaluation of cytotoxicity, pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, long-term safety, manufacturing reproducibility, scalability and regulatory requirements. Future studies would need sophisticated in vitro cardiac infection models, well characterized in vivo endocarditis models with standardized CFU based endpoints, and computational approaches for rational design and optimization of nanoformulations. Together, these advances may establish nanoantibiotics as a precision-oriented therapeutic platform for better antimicrobial therapy and tackling AMR in complex cardiovascular infections.
