Date Palm Pollen as a Promising Drug Delivery System: Release Kinetic Model and Antimicrobial Activity

Herein, the date palm pollen (DPP) grain was used as an amikacin (AMK) delivery vehicle for the first time. The AMK-loaded DPP was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and surface area (BET) analysis. The pore size of DPP was obtained 80 200 nm that was favorable to the drug uptake. The effects of pH and temperature were studied on the AMK loading in DPP. The study of drug release kinetics in phosphate buffer pH 7.4 at 37 oC suggested that the best kinetic model was the Higuchi equation. The antibacterial activity of AMK-loaded DPP (AMK-DPP) was investigated on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria by the agar-well diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) for AMK were also carried out by using broth dilution method. The similarity of the results between MIC and MBC is considerable. However, an intense reduction in the MBC was observed after AMK loaded on palm pollen. Moreover, the AMK-DPP was utilized to improve the effectiveness of AMK against the dangerous forms of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In general, AMK-DPP shows to be a new favorable method allowing in the management of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial infections and may be further evaluated in in-vivo experiments