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Review
. 2024 Jul 15;15(7):194.
doi: 10.3390/jfb15070194.

Antibiotic-Loaded Nano-Sized Delivery Systems: An Insight into Gentamicin and Vancomycin

Silvia Pisani  1 , Shafia Tufail  1   2 , Mariella Rosalia  1 , Rossella Dorati  1 , Ida Genta  1 , Enrica Chiesa  1 , Bice Conti  1
Affiliations
Review

Antibiotic-Loaded Nano-Sized Delivery Systems: An Insight into Gentamicin and Vancomycin

Silvia Pisani et al. J Funct Biomater. .

Abstract

The fight against infectious disease has remained an ever-evolving challenge in the landscape of healthcare. The ability of pathogens to develop resistance against conventional drug treatments has decreased the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions, and antibiotic resistance is recognized as one of the main challenges of our time. The goal of this systematic review paper is to provide insight into the research papers published on innovative nanosized drug delivery systems (DDSs) based on gentamycin and vancomycin and to discuss the opportunity of their repurposing through nano DDS formulations. These two antibiotics are selected because (i) gentamicin is the first-line drug used to treat suspected or confirmed infections caused by Gram-negative bacterial infections and (ii) vancomycin is used to treat serious Gram-positive bacterial infections. Moreover, both antibiotics have severe adverse effects, and one of the purposes of their formulation as nanosized DDSs is to overcome them. The review paper includes an introduction focusing on the challenges of infectious diseases and traditional therapeutic treatments, a brief description of the chemical and pharmacological properties of gentamicin and vancomycin, case studies from the literature on innovative nanosized DDSs as carriers of the two antibiotic drugs, and a discussion of the results found in the literature.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance; drug delivery; gentamicin; liposomes; nanomedicine; polymer nanoparticles; vancomycin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structure of (a) gentamicin and (b) vancomycin (modified from European Pharmacopeia 11th Ed) [11].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematized mechanisms of action of (A) gentamicin and (B) vancomycin. X in panel 4 highlights Vancomycin prevents cell wall strands from crosslinking (done with Biorender).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Scheme showing different mechanisms of antibiotic resistance.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Nanosized drug delivery systems proposed as antibiotic carriers.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Number of publications and citations on (a) gentamicin nanoparticles and (b) vancomycin nanoparticles in the time range 1985–2024. From the WOS citation report, April 2024.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Nanosized DDS interactions with bacterial membranes: (a) Gram-positive and (b) Gram-negative.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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