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Luo R, Xian D, Li F, Zhou G, Jiang L, Wu J, Lin L, Zheng Y, Liu G, Xu Q, Pan X, Wu C, Peng T, Quan G, Lu C. Epsilon-poly-l-lysine microneedle patch loaded with amorphous doxycycline nanoparticles for synergistic treatment of skin infection. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 266:131383. [PMID: 38580030 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.131383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Revised: 03/31/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
The development of antibiotic-loaded microneedles has been hindered for years by limited excipient options, restricted drug-loading space, poor microneedle formability, and short-term drug retention. Therefore, this study proposes a dissolving microneedle fabricated from the host-defense peptide ε-poly-l-lysine (EPL) as an antibacterial adjuvant system for delivering antibiotics. EPL serves not only as a major matrix material for the microneedle tips, but also as a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent that facilitates the intracellular accumulation of the antibiotic doxycycline (DOX) by increasing bacterial cell membrane permeability. Furthermore, the formation of physically crosslinked networks of EPL affords microneedle tips with improved formability, good mechanical properties, and amorphous nanoparticles (approximately 7.2 nm) of encapsulated DOX. As a result, a high total loading content of both antimicrobials up to 2319.1 μg/patch is achieved for efficient transdermal drug delivery. In a Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced deep cutaneous infection model, the EPL microneedles demonstrates potent and long-term effects by synergistically enhancing antibiotic activities and prolonging drug retention in infected lesions, resulting in remarkable therapeutic efficacy with 99.91 % (3.04 log) reduction in skin bacterial burden after a single administration. Overall, our study highlights the distinct advantages of EPL microneedles and their potential in clinical antibacterial practice when loaded with amorphous DOX nanoparticles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Luo
- College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511436, China
| | - Dongyi Xian
- College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511436, China
| | - Feng Li
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Guiling Zhou
- Unit of Pharmaco-Therapy, -Epidemiology and -Economics (PTEE), Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Groningen 9712 CP, the Netherlands
| | - Ling Jiang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Immunopathology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China
| | - Jieyi Wu
- College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511436, China
| | - Liming Lin
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yuwei Zheng
- College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511436, China
| | - Guanyu Liu
- School of Physics & Photoelectric Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510650, China
| | - Qian Xu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Immunopathology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China
| | - Xin Pan
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Chuanbin Wu
- College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511436, China
| | - Tingting Peng
- College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511436, China.
| | - Guilan Quan
- College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511436, China.
| | - Chao Lu
- College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511436, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Immunopathology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China.
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