Cloxacillin nanostructured formulation for the treatment of bovine keratoconjunctivitis

Infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) is a widespread, contagious ocular disease that affects cattle, especially dairy breeds. The disease is caused by Gram-negative bacteria mainly Moraxella bovis, and its treatment consists of parenteral or topic antibiotic therapy. The topic treatment approach is used more commonly in lactating cows, to avoid milk disposal. However, treatment failures are common, because the antibiotic is removed during lacrimation. This study aimed to evaluate the susceptibility of commercial cloxacillin and evaluate the efficacy of nanostructured cloxacillin in clinical cases of IBK by Moraxella. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of nanoparticle cloxacillin nanocoated, the nanoparticle without the antibiotic and the commercial cloxacillin were determined in vitro with field samples of Moraxella ovis (5) and Moraxella bovis (5). The efficiency of nanoparticles was tested in three cows naturally infected that were treated with 1.0 mL (with 0.32 mg of nanostructured cloxacillin) for the ocular route. Moraxella bovis was isolated and identified by biochemical and molecular methods before the treatment. The animals were treated every 12 h for six days. The cure was considered by the absence of clinical symptoms and bacteria after treatment. The mucoadhesive nanoparticle-based formulation promoted clinical cure with a low number of doses of antibiotics, probably due to the maintenance of the MIC in the ocular mucosa for longer due to the mucoadhesive characteristics of the nanoparticle. The results indicate that the use of nanocoated cloxacillin is possible to control infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis.