Peptide Antibiotic–Polyphosphate Nanoparticles: A Promising Strategy to Overcome the Enzymatic and Mucus Barrier of the Intestine

[Image: see text] The aim of this study was to develop peptide antibiotic–polyphosphate nanoparticles that are able to overcome the enzymatic and mucus barriers providing a targeted drug release directly on the intestinal epithelium. Polymyxin B–polyphosphate nanoparticles (PMB–PP NPs) were formed via ionic gelation between the cationic peptide and the anionic polyphosphate (PP). The resulting NPs were characterized by particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential, and cytotoxicity on Caco-2 cells. The protective effect of these NPs for incorporated PMB was evaluated via enzymatic degradation studies with lipase. Moreover, mucus diffusion of NPs was investigated with porcine intestinal mucus. Isolated intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) was employed to trigger the degradation of NPs and consequent drug release. PMB–PP NPs exhibited an average size of 197.13 ± 14.13 nm, a PDI of 0.36, a zeta potential of −11.1 ± 3.4 mV and a concentration and time-dependent toxicity. They provided entire protection toward enzymatic degradation and exhibited significantly (p < 0.05) higher mucus permeating properties than PMB. When incubated with isolated IAP for 4 h, monophosphate and PMB were constantly released from PMB–PP NPs and zeta potential raised up to −1.9 ± 0.61 mV. According to these findings, PMB–PP NPs are promising delivery systems to protect cationic peptide antibiotics against enzymatic degradation, to overcome the mucus barrier and to provide drug release directly at the epithelium.