System and Method for Antibiotic Delivery Using Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

A new route is shown for antibiotic delivery in fighting drug resistant infections. Nanotubes and antibiotics and complexed non-covalently, with no chemical bonding, but through adsorption of antibiotics onto the nanotube surface governed by sufficiently strong molecular attraction between hydrophobic systems of the two. This allows the antibiotics to be freed from the nanotubes more easily as they reach the cell membrane. When antibiotics are introduced with nanotubes in this manner, bacterial resistance is mitigated by nanotube transport potentially into the membrane of the bacteria. Nanotubes used in this way help to overcome antibiotic resistance.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for treating a bacterial infection, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a single-walled carbon nanotube comprising a nanotube surface;   complexing an antibiotic with the single-walled carbon nanotube to form a nanotube/antibiotic hybrid; and   administering the nanotube/antibiotic hybrid;   wherein the antibiotic is delivered to a bacterial cell.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the antibiotic is complexed to the single-walled carbon nanotube via adsorption of the antibiotic onto the nanotube surface. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein adsorption of the antibiotic onto the nanotube surface is facilitated by interaction between a hydrophobic region of the antibiotic and a hydrophobic region of the single-walled carbon nanotube. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the antibiotic is selected from the group consisting of doxycycline and methicillin. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of dispersing the single-walled carbon nanotube and antibiotic in water such that the antibiotic is adsorbed onto the nanotube surface. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bacterial cell is resistant to the antibiotic. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bacterial cell is  Staphylococcus epidermidis.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein delivery of the antibiotic to the bacterial cell comprises cellular internalization of the antibiotic by the bacterial cell such that an antibiotic resistance mechanism of the bacterial cell is circumvented. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of causing the single-walled carbon nanotube or nanotube/antibiotic hybrid to exhibit fluorescence. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of visualizing the single-walled carbon nanotube or nanotube/antibiotic hybrid after administration via fluorescence imaging. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising the step of using the fluorescence to track the single-walled carbon nanotube or nanotube/antibiotic hybrid. 
     
     
         12 . A method for introducing a selected antibiotic drug to an organism using a nanotube for the therapeutic purpose of treating a bacterial infection, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a single-walled carbon nanotube having a nanotube surface as a substrate for the selected antibiotic drug;   wherein the selected antibiotic drug is complexed to the substrate to form a nanotube/drug hybrid by non-covalently bonding the antibiotic drug to the nanotube surface through adsorption of the antibiotic onto the nanotube surface, the bonding being governed by sufficiently strong molecular attraction between hydrophobic systems of antibiotic drug and the carbon nanotube; and   administering the nanotube/drug hybrid;   wherein the antibiotic is delivered to a bacterial cell.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the antibiotic drug is selected from the group consisting of doxycycline and methicillin. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the single-walled carbon nanotubes are dispersed in water with a selected one of the doxycycline and methicillin so that the selected antibiotic drug is non-covalently attached to the nanotube surface. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the delivery device is effective in delivering an antibiotic drug which achieves an improved antibacterial effect against  Staphylococcus epidermidis.    
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the method is used for cellular internalization of the selected antibiotic and acts as a method for circumventing bacterial resistance to the selected drug. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising the steps of:
 visualizing the single-walled carbon nanotube fluorescence imaging inside the bacterial cells;   using the fluorescence imaging data as an imaging tool to track drug delivery.