Evaluation of the synergistic effect of chitosan metal ions (Cu<sup>2+</sup>/Co<sup>2+</sup>) in combination with antibiotics to counteract the effects on antibiotic resistant bacteria
Nouran A. Elbialy, Heba K. Abdelhakim, Mona H. Mohamed, Zainab Zakaria
Abstract
for the used standard bacterial strains. Moreover, the combination of each of the synthesized NP with either cefepime or penicillin not only showed a synergetic effect as antibacterial activity of each NP or antibiotics alone, but also decreased the fold of antibiotic resistance genes expression. The NPs showed potent cytotoxic activities for MCF-7, HepG2 and A549 cancer cell lines with lower cytotoxic values for the WI-38 normal cell line. The NPs' antibacterial activity may be due to penetration and rupture of the cell membrane and the outer membrane of Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria causing bacterial cell death, in addition to, penetration into the bacterial genes and blocking gene expression that is vital to bacterial growth. The fabricated nanoparticles can be an effective, affordable and biodegradable solution to challenge antibiotic resistant bacteria.