RESUMO
The discovery of new alternatives for the treatment of infectious diseases has become the focus of burgeoning global interest. The complexation of the wide-spectrum antibiotic nalidixic acid (NA) with oxidovanadium(IV) ion and its incorporation into hybrid nanoparticulate systems were explored. The V-NA complex proved to be a stronger antimicrobial agent against E. coli, B. cereus, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa than NA, based on inhibition experiments. Myristyl myristate nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) and polymeric nanoparticles of Eudragit NE30D (EuNPs) were hybridized with chitosan (chi) to increase their stability and mucoadhesivity. They showed V-NA encapsulation of 97.8 ± 0.5% and 96.1 ± 0.1% respectively. TEM and DLS characterization ascertained the presence of spherical positive charged NPs ranging from 170 to 330 nm. Controlled release of V-NA from NPs was observed with 30-40% release in 3 days. A considerable potentiation of V-NA antimicrobial activity from 5 to 10 times was elucidated against P. aeruginosa with MIC values of 59.3 and 129.9 µM for NLC/chi and EuNPs/chi respectively, in comparison with 625 µM of the free complex. Hybrid NPs were able to interfere with the quorum sensing of the reporter Chromobacterium violaceum. Cytotoxicity on mouse fibroblast L929 cells was evaluated in the range of 29.7-519 µM by MTT assay showing that, NLC/chi particles supported cell growth in the range of at 29.7-60 µM while Eu/chi do not exert cytotoxicity between 29.7 and 120 µM. These results suggest that nanoparticles are suitable systems for drug delivery applications.