Thiolated chitosan nanoparticles encapsulated nisin and selenium: antimicrobial/antibiofilm/anti-attachment/immunomodulatory multi-functional agent

Background The increase in the resistance of bacterial strains to antibiotics has led to research into the bactericidal potential of non-antibiotic compounds.

This study aimed to evaluate in vitro antibacterial/ antibiofilm properties of nisin and selenium encapsulated in thiolated chitosan nanoparticles (N/Se@TCsNPs) against prevalent enteric pathogens including standard isolates of Vibrio (V.) cholerae O1 El Tor ATCC 14,035, Campylobacter (C.) jejuni ATCC 29,428, Salmonella (S.) enterica subsp. enterica ATCC 19,430, Shigella (S.) dysenteriae PTCC 1188, Escherichia (E.) coli O157:H7 ATCC 25,922, Listeria (L.) monocytogenes ATCC 19,115, and Staphylococcus (S.) aureus ATCC 29,733.

Methods The synthesis and comprehensive analysis of N/Se@TCsNPs have been completed.

Antibacterial and antibiofilm capabilities of N/Se@TCsNPs were evaluated through broth microdilution and crystal violet assays.

Furthermore, the study included examining the cytotoxic effects on Caco-2 cells and exploring the immunomodulatory effects of N/Se@TCsNPs.

This included assessing the levels of both pro-inflammatory (IL-6 and TNFα) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10 and TGFβ) cytokines and determining the gene expression of TLR2 and TLR4 .

Results The N/Se@TCsNPs showed an average diameter of 136.26 ± 43.17 nm and a zeta potential of 0.27 ± 0.07 mV.

FTIR spectroscopy validated the structural features of N/Se@TCsNPs.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images confirmed their spherical shape and uniform distribution.

Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA)/Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) tests demonstrated the thermal stability of N/Se@TCsNPs, showing minimal weight loss of 0.03%±0.06 up to 80 °C.

The prepared N/Se@TCsNPs showed a thiol content of 512.66 ± 7.33 µmol/g ( p  < 0.05), an encapsulation efficiency (EE) of 69.83%±0.04 ( p  ≤ 0.001), and a drug release rate of 74.32%±3.45 at pH = 7.2 ( p  ≤ 0.004).

The synthesized nanostructure demonstrated potent antibacterial activity against various isolates, with effective concentrations ranging from 1.5 ± 0.08 to 25 ± 4.04 mg/mL.

The ability of N/Se@TCsNPs to reduce bacterial adhesion and internalization in Caco-2 cells underscored their antibiofilm properties ( p  ≤ 0.0001).

Immunological studies indicated that treatment with N/Se@TCsNPs led to decreased levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-6 (14.33 ± 2.33 pg/mL) and TNFα (25 ± 0.5 pg/mL) ( p  ≤ 0.0001), alongside increased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 (46.00 ± 0.57 pg/mL) and TGFβ (42.58 ± 2.10 pg/mL) in infected Caco-2 cells ( p  ≤ 0.0001).

Moreover, N/Se@TCsNPs significantly reduced the expression of TLR2 (0.22 ± 0.09) and TLR4 (0.16 ± 0.05) ( p  < 0.0001).

Conclusion In conclusion, N/Se@TCsNPs exhibited significant antibacterial/antibiofilm/anti-attachment/immunomodulatory effectiveness against selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative enteric pathogens.

However, additional ex-vivo and in-vivo investigations are needed to fully assess the performance of nanostructured N/Se@TCsNPs.