Hydrophilic nanoparticles that kill bacteria while sparing mammalian cells reveal the antibiotic role of nanostructures

Yunjiang Jiang, Wan Zheng, Keith Tran, Elizabeth Kamilar, Jitender Bariwal, Hairong Ma and Hongjun Liang ()
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Yunjiang Jiang: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Wan Zheng: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Keith Tran: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Elizabeth Kamilar: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Jitender Bariwal: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Hairong Ma: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Hongjun Liang: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract To dissect the antibiotic role of nanostructures from chemical moieties belligerent to both bacterial and mammalian cells, here we show the antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of nanoparticle-pinched polymer brushes (NPPBs) consisting of chemically inert silica nanospheres of systematically varied diameters covalently grafted with hydrophilic polymer brushes that are non-toxic and non-bactericidal. Assembly of the hydrophilic polymers into nanostructured NPPBs doesn’t alter their amicability with mammalian cells, but it incurs a transformation of their antimicrobial potential against bacteria, including clinical multidrug-resistant strains, that depends critically on the nanoparticle sizes. The acquired antimicrobial potency intensifies with small nanoparticles but subsides quickly with large ones. We identify a threshold size (dsilica ~ 50 nm) only beneath which NPPBs remodel bacteria-mimicking membrane into 2D columnar phase, the epitome of membrane pore formation. This study illuminates nanoengineering as a viable approach to develop nanoantibiotics that kill bacteria upon contact yet remain nontoxic when engulfed by mammalian cells.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27193-9

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