Antibacterial Activity of Antibiotic-loaded Electrospun Halloysite/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) Composite Nanofibers

Our earlier study shows that electrospun halloysite nanotubes (HNTs)/poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) composite nanofibers display enhanced mechanical property and are able to effectively encapsulate drug molecules for sustained release. In this study, tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) loaded onto or into HNTs with a high loading percentage of 41.6% was incorporated into electrospun PLGA nanofibers for antibacterial studies. The antimicrobial activity of the drug-loaded nanofibers was investigated by both dynamic and statical systems through incubating S. aureus in liquid and on solid media, respectively. We showed that the TCH-loaded HNTs/PLGA nanofibers displayed an effective antimicrobial activity, although the inhibition efficiency is lower than that of the free TCH. This should be ascribed to the sustained release of the drug, which cannot attain the same initial concentration of the free TCH. The approach to encapsulating drugs within the composite nanofibers may be extended for encapsulation of other drugs, thereby providing many possibilities for the applications in tissue engineering and pharmaceutics sciences.