Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
and Candida albicans (CA) are common pathogenic organisms
in humans and pose a severe threat to public health. Coinfection of
MRSA and CA often forms durable biofilms on abiotic surfaces or in
the host, which is the main strategy for these pathogens to resist
antibiotics and escape from host immune surveillance. However, the
limited options of available antibiotics and the emergence of drug-resistant
strains further increase the difficulty in treating microbial infections.
Inspired by the clinical application of traditional herbal medicines,
we prepare natural small molecule carrier-free binary nanoparticles
(NPs), which are self-assembled from berberine and chrysin through
a one-pot method. Interestingly, the pharmacologic mechanisms of the
NPs against MRSA and CA are different. We show here that NPs plays
an anti-MRSA effect by inducing cell death, while NPs inhibit CA by
causing prolonged M phase progression, abnormal cytokinesis, diminished
hyphal growth, and disturbed cell wall. Furthermore, NPs exhibit inhibition
and eradication of mono- and dual-species biofilms of MRSA and CA.
Given the excellent antimicrobial activities of NPs, the NPs show
no obvious hemolytic and cytotoxicity, suggesting that they have desired
clinical application value in the treatment coinfection of MRSA and
CA.