Table 3.

Studies of Antimicrobial Efficacy of Polymeric Nanoparticles.

Targeted disease	NP Composition	Administration method	Characteristics	Cargoes	Methods	Remarks	Reference
CF-relevant chronic lung diseases	PEG-b-poly(L-histidine)-b-poly(L-lys.ine) (PEG-CH12K18)	Inhalation	ca. 330 nm (length) & 13 nm (width)	DNA	In vitro In vivo	pH-responsive polymer by insertion of poly(L-histidine) moieties having a buffering capacity ca. 20- and 3-fold improvement of in vitro and in vivo gene transfer, respectively, of PEG-CH12K18 DNA NPs over PEG-CK30 DNA NPs	82
CF-relevant chronic lung diseases	Poly(L-lysine)-b-PEG (CK30PEG)	Inhalation	ca. 220–350 nm (length) & 11–15 nm (width)	DNA	In vitro Ex vivo In vivo	CK30PEG10k and CK30PEG5k NPs displayed the highest gene transfer to lung airways due to the partial protection against DNase I digestion.	91
Pseudomonas infections	Poly(acrylic acid)-b-polystyrene	Inhalation	ca. 30 nm	Silver cations & silver N-heterocyclic carbene complex	In vitro In vivo	SCK NPs formulations with SCC10-loaded in the core displayed a superior antimicrobial activity and efficacy over shell-loaded SCK NPs	102
Pseudomonas infections	L-tyrosine polyphosphate	Inhalation	ca. 1200 nm	Silver N-heterocyclic carbene complex (SCCs)	In vitro In vivo	ca. 75% of survival was achieved against P. aeruginosa with only two administered doses over a 72 h period.	118
Pseudomonas infections	Dextran	N/A	ca. 100 nm	Silver N-heterocyclic carbene complex	In vitro	Degradable acetalated dextran NPs High drug encapsulation efficacy up to ca. 65%	121
Pseudomonas infections	Polyphosphoester-b-poly(L-lactide)	N/A	ca. 25–34 nm	Silver cations & silver N-heterocyclic carbene complex	In vitro	Potentially fully-degradable polymeric NPs Up to ca. 70% of improvement in MIC as compared to the SCCs alone	122
Pseudomonas infections	Poly(2-ethylbutoxy phospholane)-b-poly(2-butynyl phospholane)-g-poly(ethylene glycol)	N/A	ca. 35 nm	Silver cations	In vitro	Potentially degradable polymeric NPs Up to ca. 15% (w/w) silver loading and sustained release over five days	123
Tuberculosis	PLGA	Oral, IV, or inhalation	ca. 190–290 nm	Rifampicin, isoniazid or pyrazinamide	In vivo	Sustained drug release in the plasma for six to eight days and in the lungs for up to 11 days Superiority bioavailability of nebulization method to oral or IV administration	124,125
Tuberculosis	PLGA	Oral, IV, or inhalation	ca. 200 nm	Rifampicin	In vitro In vivo	Porous nanoparticle-aggregate particle of ca. 2.7 μm Detection of systemic levels of rifampicin in the lungs for six to eight hours	126
Bacterial infections	poly(D, L-lactic-co-glycolic acid)-b-poly(L-histidine)-b-poly(ethylene glycol)	N/A	ca.200 nm	Vancomycin	In vitro	pH-responsive, surface charge-switching NPs from poly(L-histidine) segment ca. 3.5-fold increase of vancomycin-encapsulated NPs displayed in binding to bacteria at pH 6.0 with ca. 2.3-fold enhanced MICs against S. aureus.	136
N/A	Crosslinked four-arm-PEG10k	Inhalation	ca. 1.9 μm in dry & > 6 μm when swelled	N/A	In vitro	Avoidance of macrophage uptake, ca. 12% of uptake after 2 h, of the pre-swelled microgels in vitro Trypsin-triggered drug release upon degradation	139
Bacterial infections	Polyphosphoester-b-poly(ε-caprolactone)-b-PEG	N/A	ca. 430 nm	Vancomycin	In vitro	Bacterial-lipase sensitive nanogel	140
Tuberculosis	PLGA	Oral or inhalation	ca. 350–400 nm	Rifampicin, isoniazid or pyrazinamide	In vivo	Improved antimicrobial activity by using wheat germ agglutinin-functionalized PLGA NPs	141