RESUMO
Novel drug delivery systems such as nanoparticles (NPs) have been proved to enhance the effectiveness of many drugs. Clarithromycin is a broad spectrum macrolide antibiotic, used in many infectious conditions like upper and lower respiratory tract infections, and skin and other soft tissue infections. This paper describes the preparation and enhanced in vitro antibacterial activities of clarithromycin loaded poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles. A modified quasi-emulsion solvent diffusion (MQESD) method was used to prepare clarithromycin (CLR) NPs. The antibacterial activity of the NPs was evaluated using the agar well diffusion method against Escherichia coli (PTCC 1330), Haemophilus influenzae (PTCC 1623), Salmonella typhi (PTCC 1609), Staphylococcus aureus (PTCC 1112) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (PTCC 1240). The inhibition zone diameters related to each nano formulation were compared with those for untreated CLR at the same concentrations. The results indicated that the mean inhibition zone diameters of NPs against all the bacteria tested were significantly higher than those of untreated CLR, particularly in the case of S. aureus. The increased potency of CLR NPs may be related to some physicochemical properties of NPs like modified surface characteristics, lower drug degradation, and increased drug adsorption and uptake.