Antimicrobial Polymer−Based Assemblies: A Review

Abstract

An antimicrobial supramolecular assembly (ASA) is conspicuous in biomedical applications. Among the alternatives to overcome microbial resistance to antibiotics and drugs, ASAs, including antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and polymers (APs), provide formulations with optimal antimicrobial activity and acceptable toxicity. AMPs and APs have been delivered by a variety of carriers such as nanoparticles, coatings, multilayers, hydrogels, liposomes, nanodisks, lyotropic lipid phases, nanostructured lipid carriers, etc. They have similar mechanisms of action involving adsorption to the cell wall, penetration across the cell membrane, and microbe lysis. APs, however, offer the advantage of cheap synthetic procedures, chemical stability, and improved adsorption (due to multipoint attachment to microbes), as compared to the expensive synthetic routes, poor yield, and subpar in vivo stability seen in AMPs. We review recent advances in polymer−based antimicrobial assemblies involving AMPs and APs.

Polymer Conjugates of Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) with d-Amino Acids (d-aa): State of the Art and Future Opportunities

“…Indeed, working on a nanoscale offers further advantages in medicinal chemistry, both from a qualitative and a quantitative point of view [137]. In particular, the supramolecular assemblies of polymers and AMPs are a hot topic that has been recently reviewed and, thus, will not be discussed here [138]. Here, the focus will be on recent examples of polymer-AMP covalent conjugates that include D-aa.…”

Cationic and Biocompatible Polymer/Lipid Nanoparticles as Immunoadjuvants

“…The background for synthesizing PMMA/DODAB NPs has been the high miscibility of DODAB and PMMA due to weak but numerous intermolecular interactions [40]. The hybrid coatings using PMMA/DODAB materials joined the high biocompatibility of PMMA [21,50,51] with the antimicrobial activity of the quaternary ammonium moiety of DODAB [52][53][54][55]. Here we take advantage of PMMA biocompatibility and DODAB activity as immunoadjuvant to obtain hybrid NPs of PMMA/DODAB.…”

“…hybrid coatings using PMMA/DODAB materials joined the high biocompatibility of PMMA [21,50,51] with the antimicrobial activity of the quaternary ammonium moiety of DODAB [52][53][54][55]. Here we take advantage of PMMA biocompatibility and DODAB activity as immunoadjuvant to obtain hybrid NPs of PMMA/DODAB.…”

Multiple Antimicrobial Effects of Hybrid Peptides Synthesized Based on the Sequence of Ribosomal S1 Protein from Staphylococcus aureus

“…This interest is mainly related to the urgent need to combat the spread of multidrug-resistant pathogens to classical antibiotics, as well as progress in the development of tools that predict the antimicrobial properties of peptides [ 4 , 5 ]. The advantage of AMPs over traditional antibiotics lies in their multiple spectra of action, and the rapid antimicrobial action of AMPs in combination with biodegradability; as a rule, low toxicity can be supplemented by the use of composites, various expression, and delivery systems [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. However, although that some successful examples of the effective use of synthetic peptides to fight pathogenic bacteria have been shown, there is no guarantee that the final sequence will be effective against a specific pathogen, stable, and non-toxic to human cells [ 9 ].…”