Development and characterization of vancomycin-loaded levan-based microparticular system for drug delivery

Abstract

Encapsulation of vancomycin (VANCO) into biodegradable levan microparticles was achieved using a simple preparation technique. Microparticles were prepared by using levan polysaccharide produced by a halophilic bacterium Halomonas smyrnensis AAD6. To optimize efficiency of encapsulation process by precipitation method, three parameters were studied: drug and polymer concentrations and preparation rotating speed. The particles were characterized in vitro. The size of levan microparticles was changed between 0.404 μm and 1.276 μm. The surface charge was detected between +4.1 mV and +6.5 mV. The highest drug encapsulation capacity of the system was 74.7% and was depending on the polymer concentration. In dissolution studies, initial burst effect around 10-20% from all the formulations was observed and then the release was slowed down and continued at a constant level. In vitro antibiotic release from the microparticles was controlled with the drug carrier system and release fit to Higuchi kinetic model. All the released samples collected at different time intervals during dissolution studies have exhibited intrinsic bactericidal activity against Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633. WST-1 cell proliferation and viability studies showed that VANCO-loaded levan microparticles at concentrations between 100 μg/mL and 1000 μg/mL were nontoxic to L929 cells. As conclusion, levan microparticulate system could be a potential carrier of antibiotic drugs such as VANCO.

Phylogenetics and antibacterial properties of exopolysaccharides from marine bacteria isolated from Mauritius seawater

“…The latter represents an interesting prospect in view of the increasing resistance of pathogenic microorganisms to existing antibiotics (Ghalem 2017). Indeed, drug-resistant microorganisms have become an increasing concern and the potential of microbial exopolysaccharides in fighting microbial resistance lies both in their intrinsic biological activities and their ability to be used in drug delivery systems (El-Naggar et al 2016;Sezer et al 2017). Furthermore, EPS with such characteristics may also find applications in food coatings for longer preservation as it is the case for the polysaccharide pullulan (Morsy et al 2015;Trinetta and Cutter 2016).…”

Microbial Exopolysaccharides as Drug Carriers

“…Finally, for intravenous administration, the use of nanoparticles is recommended. Levan [ 120 , 121 , 122 ] and modified EPSs are other alternatives for producing self-assembling nanosystems (e.g., pullulan-cholesterol [ 150 , 151 , 152 ] and polyelectrolyte complexes [ 173 ]).…”

“…Based on its amphiphilic properties, the main application of levan so far is the production of nanoparticles. BSA [ 120 ] and vancomycin [ 121 ] have been encapsulated in levan nanoparticles of 200–600 nm with an encapsulation efficiency ranging from 50% to 70%. The protein was released slowly (20% in 10 days), whereas 30% of the vancomycin was released in the first day, maintaining its antimicrobial activity against Gram+ bacteria.…”

Levan Produced by the Halophilic Bacterium <i>Bacillus licheniformis</i> BK1 as a Nanoparticle for Protein Immobilization

“…The concentration of the protein uptake was interpolated on to the BSA standard curve to determine its concentration (Eq. (1)) [15]:…”