Enhanced antibacterial potential of berberine via synergism with chitosan nanoparticles

From the last three decades nanoparticles have captivated tremendous attention in the field of biomedical research owing to their diverse pharmaceutical and therapeutic applications. Chitosan has gained significant attention in pharmaceutics and food industries due to its remarkable antimicrobial activities and biocompatibility. Furthermore, chitosan nanoparticles have been explored widely for increased antimicrobial activities against broad range of multi drug resistant bacterial strains. Antimicrobials derived from natural herbs have also been explored. Berberine, a plant alkaloid has also proven efficacy against a broad spectrum of microorganisms. Combinatorial employment of both berberine and chitosan nanoparticles could be employed to enhance their antibacterial action. Chitosan nanoparticles were developed by ionic gelation methods and physicochemically characterized. Chitosan nanoparticles and berberine alone have showed notable antibacterial activity against both Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. However, synergy has been observed to improve their inhibitory action. The time kill kinetics revealed that the synergy has augmented the antibacterial potential of chitosan nanoparticles and berberine. The synergy between berberine and chitosan nanoparticles demonstrates combinatorial application of compounds as an efficient, novel therapeutic agents against antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.