Nanomesh to fight antibiotic resistance

The fight against global antibiotic resistance has taken a major step forward with scientists discovering a concept for fabricating nanomeshes as an effective drug delivery system for antibiotics.

Flinders University researchers and collaborators in Japan have produced a nanomesh that is capable of delivering drug treatments.

In studying the effectiveness of the nanomesh, two antibiotics, Colistin and Vancomycin, were added together with gold nanoparticles to the mesh, before they were tested. In order to deliver the antibiotics to a specific area, the antibiotics were embedded into the mesh produced using a technique called electrospinning, which offers promise in many applications including wound management, drug delivery and antibiotic coatings. The results suggested that dosages could be reduced, thus reducing potential side effects and complications. The stability of the mesh under different conditions as well as the toxicological properties needed to be evaluated.