We use cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site, you accept our cookie policy.×
Skip main navigation
Open Drawer MenuClose Drawer Menu
Aging Health
Bioelectronics in Medicine
Biomarkers in Medicine
Breast Cancer Management
CNS Oncology
Colorectal Cancer
Concussion
Epigenomics
Future Cardiology
Future Medicine AI
Future Microbiology
Future Neurology
Future Oncology
Future Rare Diseases
Future Virology
Hepatic Oncology
HIV Therapy
Immunotherapy
International Journal of Endocrine Oncology
International Journal of Hematologic Oncology
Journal of 3D Printing in Medicine
Lung Cancer Management
Melanoma Management
Nanomedicine
Neurodegenerative Disease Management
Pain Management
Pediatric Health
Personalized Medicine
Pharmacogenomics
Regenerative Medicine
Research Article

Antibacterial and wound-healing potential of PLGA/spidroin nanoparticles: a study on earthworms as a human skin model

    Fatma El-Zahraa A Abd El-Aziz

    Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, 71515, Egypt

    Search for more papers by this author

    ,
    Helal F Hetta

    *Author for correspondence:

    E-mail Address: helalhetta@aun.edu.eg

    Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, 71526, Egypt

    Search for more papers by this author

    ,
    Basma N Abdelhamid

    Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut, 71526, Egypt

    Search for more papers by this author

    &
    Noura H Abd Ellah

    **Author for correspondence:

    E-mail Address: nora.1512@aun.edu.eg

    Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut, 71526, Egypt

    Search for more papers by this author

    Published Online:21 Feb 2022https://doi.org/10.2217/nnm-2021-0325

    Abstract

    Aim: The essential protein element of spider silk ‘spidroin’ was used to assess its impact on the wound-healing process. Methods: Spidroin nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared using poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) polymer (PLGA/spidroin NPs) at different weight ratios (5:1, 10:1, 15:1) and were in vitro characterized. The optimized NPs were tested in vitro for release and antibacterial activity. To assess wound-healing effects, NPs were topically applied on surgically induced injuries in Allolobophora caliginosa earthworms as a robust human skin model. Results: Optimized NPs (173 ± 3 nm) revealed considerable antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. After 4 days of NPs application on wounds, macroscopical and histological examinations revealed a significant reduction in wound and re-epithelialization times. Conclusion: PLGA/spidroin NPs may represent a promising option for wound repair.

    Graphical abstract

    Papers of special note have been highlighted as: • of interest; •• of considerable interest

    References

    • 1. Blackledge TA, Kuntner M, Agnarsson I. The form and function of spider orb webs: evolution from silk to ecosystems. Adv. Insect Physiol. 41, 175–262 (2011).
      Google Scholar
    • 2. Chaw RC, Clarke Iii TH, Arensburger P et al. Gene expression profiling reveals candidate genes for defining spider silk gland types. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 135, 103594 (2021).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 3. Dos Santos-Pinto JRA, Lamprecht G, Chen W-Q et al. Structure and post-translational modifications of the web silk protein spidroin-1 from Nephila spiders. J. Proteomics 105, 174–185 (2014).
      MedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 4. Mirghani M, Kabbashi N, Elfaki F, Zulkifli M. Investigation of the spider web for antibacterial activity. Presented at the: Malaysian International Conference on Trends in Bioprocess Engineering (MICOTriBE) (2012). •• Shows that spider silk may be a potential source of effective antibacterial agents.
      Google Scholar
    • 5. Abd Ellah NH, Abd El-Aziz FE-ZA, Abouelmagd SA et al. Spidroin in carbopol-based gel promotes wound healing in earthworm's skin model. Drug Deliv. Res. 80(8), 1051–1061 (2019). •• Shows that spider silk extract, which formulated as a gel, has the ability to enhance wound healing.
      Google Scholar
    • 6. Cheng C, Qiu Y, Tang S et al. Artificial spider silk based programmable woven textile for efficient wound management. Adv. Funct. Mater. doi:10.1002/adfm.202107707 (2021).
      MedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 7. Jackson JE, Kopecki Z, Cowin AJ. Nanotechnological advances in cutaneous medicine. J. Nanomaterials 2013, 808234 (2013).
      Google Scholar
    • 8. Mordorski B, Rosen J, Friedman A. Nanotechnology as an innovative approach for accelerating wound healing in diabetes. Diabetes Manag. 5(5), 329–332 (2015). • Discusses the direct barriers to diabetic wound healing and the options to overcome these barriers.
      CASGoogle Scholar
    • 9. Mir M, Ahmed N, Rehman AU. Recent applications of PLGA based nanostructures in drug delivery. Colloids Surf. B Biointerfaces 159, 217–231 (2017).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 10. Elmowafy EM, Tiboni M, Soliman ME. Biocompatibility, biodegradation and biomedical applications of poly(lactic acid)/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) micro and nanoparticles. J. Pharm. Invest. 49(4), 347–380 (2019).
      CASGoogle Scholar
    • 11. Zielińska A, Carreiró F, Oliveira AM et al. Polymeric nanoparticles: production, characterization, toxicology and ecotoxicology. Molecules (Basel) 25(16), 3731 (2020).
      CASGoogle Scholar
    • 12. Zhi K, Raji B, Nookala AR et al. PLGA nanoparticle-based formulations to cross the blood-brain barrier for drug delivery: from R&D to cGMP. Pharmaceutics 13(4), 500 (2021).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 13. Hetta HF, Ahmed EA, Hemdan AG et al. Modulation of rifampicin-induced hepatotoxicity using poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles: a study on rat and cell culture models. Nanomedicine (Lond.) 15(14), 1375–1390 (2020). • A promising work using poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) as a biodegradable polymer to fabricate nanoparticles (NPs) containing the drug.
      CASGoogle Scholar
    • 14. Salatin S, Barar J, Barzegar-Jalali M et al. Development of a nanoprecipitation method for the entrapment of a very water soluble drug into Eudragit RL nanoparticles. Res. Pharm. Sci. 12(1), 1–14 (2017).
      MedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 15. Abdelkarim M, Abd Ellah NH, Elsabahy M, Abdelgawad M, Abdelgawad M. Microchannel geometry vs flow parameters for controlling nanoprecipitation of polymeric nanoparticles. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 611, 125774 (2021).
      Google Scholar
    • 16. Di Toro R, Betti V, Spampinato S. Biocompatibility and integrin-mediated adhesion of human osteoblasts to poly (DL-lactide-co-glycolide) copolymers. Eur. J. Pharm. Sci. 21(2–3), 161–169 (2004).
      MedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 17. Magalhãƒes WF, Hutchings P, Oceguera-Figueroa A et al. Segmented worms (phylum Annelida): a celebration of twenty years of progress through Zootaxa and call for action on the taxonomic work that remains. Zootaxa 4979(1), 190–211 (2021).
      Google Scholar
    • 18. Sankar AS, Patnaik A. Identification and classification of earthworms in agro-climatic zone: north eastern Ghat of Odisha, India. Life 5(3), 439–441 (2016).
      Google Scholar
    • 19. Plisko JD. Megadrile earthworm taxa introduced to South African soils (Oligochaeta: Acanthodrilidae, Eudrilidae, Glossoscolecidae, Lumbricidae, Megascolecidae, Ocnerodrilidae). African Invertebrates 51(2), 289–312 (2010).
      Google Scholar
    • 20. Liebeke M, Strittmatter N, Fearn S et al. Unique metabolites protect earthworms against plant polyphenols. Nat. Commun. 6, 7869 (2015).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 21. Prakash M, Gunasekaran G. Gastroprotective effect of earthworm paste (Lampito mauritii, Kinberg) on experimental gastric ulcer in rats. Eur. Rev. Med. Pharmacol. Sci. 14(3), 171–176 (2010).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 22. Albro PW, Bilski P, Corbett JT et al. Photochemical reactions and phototoxicity of sterols: novel self-perpetuating mechanism for lipid photooxidation. Photochem. Photobiol. 66(3), 316–325 (1997).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 23. Misra R, Lal K, Farooq M, Hans R. Effect of solar UV radiation on earthworm (Metaphire posthuma). Ecotoxicol. Environ. Safety 62(3), 391–396 (2005).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 24. Lateef A, Ojo S, Azeez M et al. Cobweb as novel biomaterial for the green and eco-friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles. Appl. Nanosci. 6(6), 863–874 (2016).
      CASGoogle Scholar
    • 25. Kruger NJ. The Bradford method for protein quantitation. Methods Mol. Biol. 32, 9–15 (1994).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 26. Bauer A. Antibiotic susceptibility testing by a standardized single disc method. Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 45, 149–158 (1996).
      Google Scholar
    • 27. Felten A, Grandry B, Lagrange PH, Casin I. Evaluation of three techniques for detection of low-level methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): a disk diffusion method with cefoxitin and moxalactam, the Vitek 2 system, and the MRSA-screen latex agglutination test. J. Clin. Microbiol. 40(8), 2766–2771 (2002).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 28. Carelton HM. Carleton’s Histological Technique (5th Edition). Drury RWallington E (Eds). Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (1980).
      Google Scholar
    • 29. Gupta P. Ultrastructural study on semithin section. Sci. Tools 30(1), 6–7 (1983).
      Google Scholar
    • 30. Mura S, Hillaireau H, Nicolas J et al. Influence of surface charge on the potential toxicity of PLGA nanoparticles towards Calu-3 cells. Int. J. Nanomedicine 6, 2591–2605 (2011).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 31. Yoo J-W, Irvine DJ, Discher DE, Mitragotri S. Bio-inspired, bioengineered and biomimetic drug delivery carriers. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 10(7), 521–535 (2011).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 32. Abd El-Aziz FA, Ali MF. Towards study of UV-C radiation effect on earthworms and isopods via electron microscopy. Egyptian Acad. J. Biol. Sci. B Zool. 13(2), 33–46 (2021).
      Google Scholar
    • 33. Andreu V, Mendoza G, Arruebo M, Irusta S. Smart dressings based on nanostructured fibers containing natural origin antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and regenerative compounds. Materials 8(8), 5154–5193 (2015).
      MedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 34. Johnson Retnaraj Samuel SC, Elaiya Raja S, Beryl Vedha Y et al. Autofluorescence in BrdU-positive cells and augmentation of regeneration kinetics by riboflavin. Stem Cells Dev. 21(11), 2071–2083 (2012).
      MedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 35. Gomes SC, Leonor IB, Mano JF et al. Antimicrobial functionalized genetically engineered spider silk. Biomaterials 32(18), 4255–4266 (2011).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 36. Kumari P, Chahar M, Veerapur V et al. Spider web ointment: a traditional based approach in cutaneous wound healing. Ind. J. Trad. Healing 12(4), 657–663 (2013).
      Google Scholar
    • 37. Cinar S, Hatipoglu R, Gundel FD et al. Performances of some perennial warm season grasses alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) mixtures under Mediterranean conditions. Turkish J. Field Crops 19(2), 212–218 (2014).
      Google Scholar
    • 38. Mizutani K, Ogawa H, Saito J, Oka K. Fictive locomotion induced by octopamine in the earthworm. J. Exp. Biol. 205(2), 265–271 (2002).
      Medline CASGoogle Scholar
    • 39. Desmoulière A, Chaponnier C, Gabbiani G. Tissue repair, contraction, and the myofibroblast. Wound Repair Regen. 13(1), 7–12 (2005).
      MedlineGoogle Scholar