Abstract
Over decades, sulfur has been employed for treatment of many dermatological diseases, several skin and soft tissue, and Staphylococcus infections. Because of its abuse, resistant bacterial strains have emerged. Nanotechnology has presented a new horizon to overcome abundant problems including drug resistance. Nano-sized sulfur has proven to retain bactericidal activity. Consequently, the specific aims of this study are exclusively directed to produce various sulfur nanoparticles formulations with control of particle size and morphology and investigate the antibacterial activity response specifically classified by the category of responses of different formulations, for the treatment of acne vulgaris resistant to conventional antibiotics. In this study, we produced uncoated sulfur nanoparticles (SNPs), sulfur nano-composite with chitosan (CS-SNPs), and sulfur nanoparticles coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG-SNPs) and evaluate their bactericidal impact against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis isolated from 173 patients clinically diagnosed acne vulgaris. Accompanied with molecular investigations of ermB and mecA resistance genes distribution among the isolates. Sulfur nanoparticles were synthesized using acid precipitation method and were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersed x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Moreover, agar diffusion and broth micro-dilution methods were applied to determine their antibacterial activity and their minimum inhibitory concentration. PCR analysis for virulence factors detection. Results: TEM analysis showed particle size of SNPs (11.7 nm), PEG-SNPs (27 nm) and CS-SNPs (33 nm). Significant antibacterial activity from nanoparticles formulations in 100% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) with inhibition zone 30 mm and MIC at 5.5 µg/mL. Furthermore, the prevalence of mecA gene was the most abundant among the isolates while ermB gene was infrequent. Conclusions: sulfur nanoparticles preparations are an effective treatment for most Staphylococcus bacteria causing acne vulgaris harboring multi-drug resistance virulence factors.