CELLULOSE DERIVATIVE PARTICLES AS ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS AGENT CARRIERS

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.TB). Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis had been reported. Therefore, the development of new anti-tuberculosis agents is needed. This work involves the use of bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BBQs) compounds isolated from the roots of Tiliacora triandra, for combating with M.TB. Anti-mycobacterial activity against multidrug-resistant strains of both TB and M.TB has been reported. Since BBQs is toxic to macrophage cell, here we encapsulate BBQs and thymol into nanoparticles fabricated from ethyl cellulose (EC) and show that 140 nm particles possess similar anti-TB activity to unencapsulated BBQs, but are less toxic to macrophages. We also show that the particles can be effectively taken up into the macrophages.