THERMUCNA · Thermoresponsive and mucoadhesive nanogels for intramammary administration of antimicrobial compounds to be employed in bovine mastitis treatment

Thermoresponsive and mucoadhesive nanogels for intramammary administration of antimicrobial compounds to be employed in bovine mastitis treatment

Dairy activity is vital for the European economy, producing almost a quarter of the world's available milk. Bovine mastitis (BM) is a widespread disease that affects dairy cows and causes significant economic losses in the industry worldwide. The current method of controlling BM is through antibiotic therapies. However, these treatments are often ineffective due to acquired drug resistance and the survival strategies of bacteria. In order to combat this issue, new therapeutic approaches are needed. That's why this research project proposes using smart nanogels (NGs) to deliver antimicrobial agents directly into the bovine udder for BM prophylactic treatment. The overall goal of this project is to synthesize a library of NGs that can effectively encapsulate antimicrobial cargos and have tissue-adhesive capabilities to increase their residence time in the bovine udder. NGs are also expected to (i) trigger cargo release upon the infection environment, (ii) ability to promote internalization into host cells to kill intracellular bacteria, and (iii)the ability to avoid bacterial biofilm formation. By conferring at least one of these features, we expect to develop a novel therapy that effectively reduces bacterial resistant development and optimizes antimicrobial use. During the project, pH-sensitive thermoresponsive NGs were developed. Various monomers and monomer ratios were evaluated to identify the most efficient NGs that respond specifically to an infection environment. Nisin and ceftiofurwere chosen as antimicrobial cargos, which were successfully encapsulated inside the NGs. Also, many efforts were made to set up relevant in vitro models to test the performance of all synthesized formulations. As a general conclusion of this project, smart NGs can be used to specifically release antimicrobials under infection conditions. This approach can reduce the exposure of host animals to antimicrobials and potentially avoid the development of antimicrobial resistance. It's important to note that this strategy has not been explored yet in bovine intramammary infections, which highlights the novelty of our research findings.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз