Garlic oil-loaded PLGA nanoparticles with controllable size and shape and enhanced antibacterial activities

The present work focuses on producing polymer composite nanoparticles (NPs) composed of garlic oil (GO) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) by the single emulsion/solvent evaporation (SE/SE) method and high-speed homogenizing. Different preparation parameters were found to greatly affect the stability and size uniformity of the prepared PLGA/GO NP formulations, which were carefully controlled. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and UV-vis spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering and zeta potential were used to characterize the NPs. Antibacterial assessment of the prepared PLGA/GO NPs against E. coli and S. aureus was carried out. Interestingly, the NP size ranged between 201 and 319nm, which is 10 times less than the size of the regular GO particles in bulk solution. The antibacterial activities show enhancement by 70-78% of bacterial inhibition compared with a GO bulk solution. This work sheds light on the potential use of GO NP formulations as nanobiotics and the critical NP preparation parameters that need to be considered. (c) 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46133.