Polyethylene Glycol Functionalized Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles Loaded with Nigella sativa Extract: A Smart Antibacterial Therapeutic Drug Delivery System

Abstract

Flaky graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using Hummer’s method and then capped with polyethylene glycol (PEG) by an esterification reaction, then loaded with Nigella sativa (N. sativa) seed extract. Aiming to investigate their potential use as a smart drug delivery system against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, the spectral and structural characteristics of GO-PEG NPs were comprehensively analyzed by XRD, AFM, TEM, FTIR, and UV- Vis. XRD patterns revealed that GO-PEG had different crystalline structures and defects, as well as a higher interlayer spacing. AFM results showed GONPs with the main grain size of 24.41 nm, while GONPs–PEG revealed graphene oxide aggregation with the main grain size of 287.04 nm after loading N. sativa seed extract, which was verified by TEM examination. A strong OH bond appeared in FTIR spectra. Furthermore, UV- Vis absorbance peaks at (275, 284, 324, and 327) nm seemed to be correlated with GONPs, GO–PEG, N. sativa seed extract, and GO –PEG- N. sativa extract. The drug delivery system was observed to destroy the bacteria by permeating the bacterial nucleic acid and cytoplasmic membrane, resulting in the loss of cell wall integrity, nucleic acid damage, and increased cell-wall permeability.

Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel Antimicrobial Polymers Based on the Inclusion of Polyethylene Glycol/TiO2 Nanocomposites in Cyclodextrin as Drug Carriers for Sulfaguanidine

“…NPs interact with cellular organelles and biomolecules such as DNA, enzymes, ribosomes, and lysosomes, influencing cell membrane permeability, protein activation, gene expression, and oxidative stress [48]. In the current study, PEG/TiO 2 (2) was effective against all tested bacterial strains, in close agreement with other previous works [86,87]. As PEG/TiO 2 NPS are smaller in size, they are expected to have a better chance of interacting with bacteria or better access to endogenous bacterial proteins.…”

Preparation of NiFe2O4@MIL-101(Fe)/GO as a novel nanocarrier and investigation of its antimicrobial properties

“…We provided Table 2 to show a comparison between our research with similar studies. 37,45–48 As can be seen, the newly prepared nanocomposite including NiFe 2 O 4 @MIL-101(Fe)/GO had a satisfactory drug loading percentage, drug release, and also antibacterial activities in comparison with previous structures.…”

Inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus α‐Hemolysin Production Using Nanocurcumin Capped Au@ZnO Nanocomposite

“…Thus, the results of this study indicate that the generated NPs (Au, ZnO, Cur, Au@ZnO NPs, and Cur-Au@ZnO) mediate the adherence and invasion of S. aureus strain in REF cells. Likewise, a study by Jihad et al [ 44 ] reported that the pretreated REF cells with graphene oxide nanoparticles capped with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and loaded with Nigella sativa (GONPs, GONPs-PEG, and GONPs-PEG- N. sativa ) at a concentration of 100 μ g/mL can delay the invasion of different types of Gram-negative and positive bacterial strains. Taken together, the present study verified that the investigated NPs play a mediation role in the adherence and invasion of S. aureus to REF cells.…”

“…10 μ L was taken from each well and applied to the nutrient agar, where bacterial cells grew and counted after 20 h. The average bacterium from each well was used to calculate the invasion potential of bacteria. This assay was carried out in triplicate [ 44 ].…”