Synergistic bactericidal activity of chlorhexidine-loaded, silver-decorated mesoporous silica nanoparticles

Meng-meng Lu,1 Qiu-jing Wang,2 Zhi-min Chang,3 Zheng Wang,3 Xiao Zheng,4 Dan Shao,3,4 Wen-fei Dong,3 Yan-min Zhou1 1Department of Dental Implantology, Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Tooth Development and Bone Remodeling, School and Hospital of Stomatology, 2Experimental Center of Functional Sciences, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, 3Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Bio-Medical Diagnostics, Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 4Department of Pharmacology, Nanomedicine Engineering Laboratory of Jilin Province, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Combination of chlorhexidine (CHX) and silver ions could engender synergistic bactericidal effect and improve the bactericidal efficacy. It is highly desired to develop an efficient carrier for the antiseptics codelivery targeting infection foci with acidic microenvironment. In this work, monodisperse mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) nanospheres were successfully developed as an ideal carrier for CHX and nanosilver codelivery through a facile and environmentally friendly method. The CHX-loaded, silver-decorated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (Ag-MSNs@CHX) exhibited a pH-responsive release manner of CHX and silver ions simultaneously, leading to synergistically antibacterial effect against both gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and gram-negative Escherichia coli. Moreover, the effective antibacterial concentration of Ag-MSNs@CHX showed less cytotoxicity on normal cells. Given their synergistically bactericidal ability and good biocompatibility, these nanoantiseptics might have effective and broad clinical applications for bacterial infections. Keywords: mesoporous silica nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, chlorhexidine, pH-responsive release, synergistic bactericidal activity, good biocompatibility&nbsp