Caprolactam-silica network, a strong potentiator of the antimicrobial activity of kanamycin against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains

Here, we report the fabrication of a novel ɛ-caprolactam-silica (ɛ-SiO2) network and assessed its biocompatibility and ability to improve the antimicrobial activity of kanamycin. The results of the quantitative antimicrobial assay demonstrate that the obtained ɛ-SiO2 network has efficiently improved the kanamycin activity on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 strains, with a significant decrease of the minimum inhibitory concentration. The ɛ-SiO2 network could be feasibly obtained and represents an alternative for the design of new antibiotic drug carriers or delivery systems to control bacterial infections.

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