Chitosan-coated niosomal meropenem with enhanced antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae from wastewater.

Authors

Fatemeh Ashrafi, Ghazal Khalili, Pooria Moulavi, Maryam Jafari, Sepideh Asadi, Sadegh Jozaie, Robabeh Jafari

Published in

Journal of microencapsulation. Pages 1-16. Sep 29, 2026. Epub Sep 29, 2026.

Abstract

Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) poses a major therapeutic challenge due to antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation. This study developed chitosan-coated meropenem-loaded niosomes (Nio-MRP@CS) and evaluated their physicochemical properties and antibacterial, antibiofilm, and gene-modulating activities against wastewater-derived CRKP isolates. Niosomes were prepared by thin-film hydration using Span 60, Tween 60, and cholesterol, with meropenem (MRP) incorporated during hydration, followed by chitosan coating. The optimised formulation (F2) showed an entrapment efficiency (EE%) of 74.16 ± 2.12%, particle size of 131.5 ± 3.3 nm, and polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.131 ± 0.004. Nio-MRP@CS released 42.55% of MRP over 72 h, compared with 49.5% from Nio-MRP and 98-100% from free MRP by 24 h. MIC values decreased from 50-100 to 1.56-12.5 μg/mL, while biofilm formation was inhibited by 60-70%. Nio-MRP@CS also reduced blaIMP, blaKPC, and fimH expression. These findings support Nio-MRP@CS as an in-vitro delivery platform. Further in-vivo, toxicity, pharmacokinetic, and safety studies are required before clinical translation.

PMID:
42808870
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 29 Sep 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.