Antibiotic resistance is an emerging problem in healthcare and occurs when a bacterium evolves to be resistant to certain antibiotics over time, which can manifest into immedicable fatal infections in humans. There is potential to overcome antibiotic resistance by altering an antibiotic’s drug delivery system. Additionally, pharmacological research shows that utilizing polymer-based drug delivery systems may be the future method for effectively delivering drugs in a manner that is cost-efficient and non-toxic. Certain plant-derived polymers, such as Aloe Vera, Tamarind, and Fenugreek, naturally possess antibacterial properties, and therefore it is hypothesized that they would be the most effective non-toxic polymeric drug delivery systems. This experiment evaluates the use of extracted Aloe Vera, Tamarind, and Fenugreek, non-toxic plant-derived polymers, as a drug delivery system for ampicillin, a frequently used β-lactam antibiotic, to produce cytotoxic effects on non-pathogenic K12 <i>Escherichia coli</i> bacteria. Preliminary data analysis of the toxicity of the drug delivery system with ampicillin revealed promising results and future experimentation will be done to determine the best inhibitory concentration. Once a polymer-based delivery system for antibiotics is determined to be capable of producing cytotoxic effects on non-pathogenic bacteria, future experimentation can be done to test the antibiotic and polymeric drug delivery system on pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant bacteria species.

Efficacy of a plant-derived polymeric drug delivery system used to deliver antibiotics to produce cytotoxic effects on bacteria

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