Designing a Unique Therapeutic Agent Involving Gold Nanoparticles Capped with Ceftazidime for Potent Antibacterial Applications

There is a desperate need for creating new antibiotics or modifying existing antibiotics in response to the soaring increase in cases of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria that are commonly known as “Superbugs” all across the world. We have tried to design an effective antibacterial agent involving gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) capped with an antibiotic (ceftazidime). Keeping the 12 principles of ‘green chemistry’ in mind a unique, single step process that is unlike conventional methods was conceived for making AuNPs using the combined reducing and capping ability of ceftazidime to yield ceftazidime capped gold nanoparticles (C-AuNPs). The C-AuNPs were then characterized using various analytical techniques that utilized such tools as the transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and UV-Vis spectroscope to determine the morphology of the AuNPs. The efficiency of the antibacterial activity of C-AuNPs was assessed using several antibacterial assays such as turbidimetry, spread plate method, and XTT assay. A variety of bacterial strains including both Gram-positive and Gram-negative were used for the above assays. The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of C-AuNPs, obtained from the assays was compared with the MIC of ceftazidime pure drug in order to evaluate the efficacy of C-AuNPs compared to pure ceftazidime drug