Evaluation of physico-chemical properties and antimicrobial synergic effect of ceftazidime-modified chitosan

The high prevalence of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria has stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies. Polymeric materials have aroused the interest of many researchers because of their large field of applications. This work aimed to evaluate the synergistic antimicrobial effect of chitosan in association with ceftazidime as well as possible chemical interactions from this combination by FTIR, XRD and TG/DTG curves. Through these analyses, it was possible to conclude that the proposed method was efficient to incorporate the drug with no changes in the fundamental structure of chitosan. In addition, the developed carrier was responsible for increasing the thermal and hydrolytic stability of the drug. The antibacterial activity of chitosan and ceftazidime-modified chitosan was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus 25,923 and Escherichia coli 25,922 strains, revealing a possible time-dependent drug release.