Synthesis, characterization and in vitro evaluation of amphiphilic ion pairs of erythromycin and kanamycin antibiotics with liposaccharides

The hydrophilic ion paring strategy (HIP) is a method explored to improve the cell/tissue uptake of poorly adsorbed drugs and to optimize their physico-chemical characteristics. In this context, we here describe the synthesis of some ion pairs of two model cationic antibiotics, erythromycin (ERY) and kanamycin A (KAN), with liposaccharides having different levels of lipophilicity and charge. The formation of drug-liposaccharide complexes was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis. The effect of the amphiphilic liposaccharide moieties on the antimicrobial activity of ERY and KAN was assessed by measuring the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the compounds against a panel of bacterial strains that were susceptible or resistant to the parent antibiotics. The ion pairing did not depress the in vitro antibiotic activity, although no lowering of MIC values was registered. The experimental findings would motivate the future investigation of this ion pairing strategy in drug design, for instance allowing improvement of the encapsulation efficiency of hydrophilic antibiotics in lipid-based nanocarriers, or changing their in vivo biodistribution and pharmacokinetic profile.