Characterization of a nitric oxide (NO) donor molecule and cerium oxide nanoparticle (CNP) interactions and their synergistic antimicrobial potential for biomedical applications.

HYPOTHESIS: Broad-spectrum antimicrobials are needed to mitigate the complicated nature of antibiotic-resistant infections. It is imperative to formulate new antimicrobials by combining agents with different mechanisms and broader microbial targets. A combined antimicrobial solution could be a highly critical step towards developing a strategy to prevent polymicrobial infections. Herein, we have investigated the interaction and antimicrobial potential of a solution that contains cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNP) and a nitric oxide (NO) donor, S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP). It is hypothesized that these two agents induce synergistic effects and would provide broad antimicrobial effects since CNP is known to be an effective antifungal agent while NO released by SNAP is known to be a potent bactericidal agent.

EXPERIMENTS: Different concentrations of SNAP and CNP were combined in a solution and tested for colloidal stability, NO release, mammalian cell cytotoxicity, and antimicrobial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans, accounting for Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, and fungi, respectively.

FINDINGS: SNAP and CNP combined in equimolar solution of 3 mM were found to be highly virulent for all microbes tested compared to higher amounts of the treatments required individually. These results hold a promising outlook toward the development of broad-spectrum antimicrobial coatings and films with the potential to prevent polymicrobial infections and further enhance biomedical device usage and applications.