The appearance of resistant strains of bacteria in community healthcare facilities is a common occurrence with growing severity. Cases of resistance to β-lactam drugs such as Methicillin have been shown in Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Staphylococcus epidermis (MRSE), among many others, and these resistances limit therapeutic options. The synthetic glycopeptide antibiotic Vancomycin is considered one of the last lines of defense for these types of resistant infections. Failures in antibiotic therapy at this stage come from inadequate drug concentration at the infected sites, reduction of activity due to local acidity, and toxicity associated with accumulation in non-infected tissue. To solve these issues, an environmentally-responsive lipid-based nanoparticle, or liposome, has been developed to deliver Vancomycin to local infection sites. These liposomes retain their drug contents at physiologic pH, increasing antibiotic circulation time. Additionally, they are selectively triggered to release their drug contents by the external stimulus of decreased pH of local infection sites. Encapsulation of Vancomycin in these liposomes was performed, showing stable retention and release between pH 7.4 and 5.5, respectively. Additionally, demonstration of the enhanced antibiotic activity of the pH-triggered nanoparticles was carried out through Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) studies. From the results, there is promising data suggesting that targeted delivery of Vancomycin using environmentally sensitive liposomes is a candidate for sustained and targeted antibiotic therapy in resistant bacterial infections.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Biomedical Engineering
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_6979
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (vii, 32 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
M.S.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Vancomycin
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Nanoparticles
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Timothy Holleran
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.