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Updated: Aug 9, 2025

High Throughput, Real-time, Dual-readout Testing of Intracellular Antimicrobial Activity and Eukaryotic Cell Cytotoxicity
Published on: November 16, 2016
Antimicrobial Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks with Dual Mechanisms of Action
Yunxiang Yan1,2, Ye Li3, Hong Li1,2
1School of Life Sciences, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China.
Abstract:
The horizontal transfer of drug-resistant genes and the formation of biofilm barriers have threatened the therapeutic efficacy of conventional antibiotic drugs. Development of non-antibiotic agents with high delivery efficiency through bacterial biofilms is urgently required. A pyrithione (PT)-loading zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8@PT) is synthesized to destroy biofilms and improve the sensitivity of bacteria to PT. ZIF-8@PT can target and destroy the biofilm as well as the cell membrane, promoting the intracellular delivery of PT and possibly its interaction with SmpB, a protein that could regulate the drug resistance of bacteria. ZIF-8@PT effectively suppresses abdominal infections induced by multiresistant Aeromonas veronii C4 in rodent models without systemic toxicity. ZIF-8@PT promises wide applications in treating infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria through a dual mechanism of action.
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