Liquid crystal delivery of ciprofloxacin to treat infections of the female reproductive tract.

Liquid crystal delivery of ciprofloxacin to treat infections of the female reproductive tract. Biomed Microdevices. 2019 Mar 29;21(2):36 Authors: Pisano S, Giustiniani M, Francis L, Gonzalez D, Margarit L, Sheldon IM, Paolino D, Fresta M, Conlan RS, Healey GD Abstract Infections of the female reproductive tract are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in humans, requiring significant investment to sustain treatment and representing a major challenge to health. The increasing prevalence of bacterial resistance, and an almost complete absence of new antibiotic therapies for the past five decades, mean there is a desperate need for novel approaches to the treatment of bacterial infections. Within the present study, we demonstrate the effective ex vivo treatment of bacterial infection of the female reproductive tract using a controlled-release, liquid crystal-based platform. Liquid crystal encapsulation of ciprofloxacin significantly enhanced its bactericidal efficacy and reduced cell toxicity. Liquid crystal structures are low-cost, simple to manufacture and provide a sustained-release profile of encapsulated ciprofloxacin. Treatment of Escherichia coli infected reproductive tract epithelial cells and whole organ cultures with liquid crystal encapsulated ciprofloxacin proved to be an effective strategy for reducing bacterial load and reproductive tract inflammatory responses to infection. These data suggest that such an approach cou...
Source: Biomedical Microdevices - Category: Biomedical Engineering Authors: Tags: Biomed Microdevices Source Type: research