Campylobacter jejuni related gastrointestinal infections are challenging to overcome due to emerging antimicrobial resistance that poses global public health concerns. The development of biopolymeric nanosystems encapsulating natural antimicrobials serves as an alternative-medicine based on phytoceuticals. Thymol, an essential ingredient extracted from the thyme plant (Thymus vulgaris), and oregano plant (Origanum vulgare) exhibits a wide range of applications including anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties. However, its bioavailability, low stability, and poor water solubility severely limit its applications. Herein, zein nanosystems encapsulating thymol (TH-ZNs) were successfully fabricated to enhance the antibacterial and antibiofilm potential of thymol against foodborne multidrug-resistant C. jejuni. Through the antisolvent precipitation technique, physically stable nanosystems were obtained exhibiting a high encapsulation efficiency of 87 ± 0.5 %. Scanning electron microscopy revealed slightly rough surface morphology of TH-ZNs. FTIR spectroscopy elucidated hydrophobic interactions between thymol and zein which facilitates the successful encapsulation of thymol. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) studies revealed that the entrapment of thymol in ZNs increased the size from 202 ± 1.4 nm to 212 ± 1 nm, whereas zeta potential values were reduced from −42 ± 3 mV to −37 ± 2 mV in the case of void and TH-ZNs, respectively. Furthermore, TH-ZNs exhibited higher antimicrobial and antibiofilm efficacy against C. jejuni as compared to free thymol for a longer period. These results indicate that TH-ZNs inhibited bacterial growth while being non-cytotoxic, thus improving the overall efficiency of phytoceuticals to develop alternative nanotherapeutics to combat the resistant zoonotic pathogen.

中文翻译：

---

植物药的影响：负载百里酚的基于玉米醇溶蛋白的纳米抗菌剂对抗耐药性人畜共患病原体


由于新出现的抗菌素耐药性引起了全球公共卫生问题，因此与空肠弯曲杆菌相关的胃肠道感染难以克服。封装天然抗菌剂的生物聚合物纳米系统的开发是一种基于植物药的替代药物。百里香酚是从百里香植物 （Thymus vulgaris） 和牛至植物 （Origanum vulgare） 中提取的重要成分，具有广泛的应用，包括抗炎、抗菌和抗氧化特性。然而，它的生物利用度、低稳定性和差的水溶性严重限制了其应用。在此，成功制备了封装百里香酚 （TH-ZN） 的玉米醇溶蛋白纳米系统，以增强百里香酚对食源性多重耐药空肠杆菌的抗菌和抗生物膜潜力。通过反溶剂沉淀技术，获得了物理稳定的纳米系统，具有 87 ± 0.5% 的高包封效率。扫描电子显微镜揭示了 TH-ZNs 略微粗糙的表面形态。FTIR 光谱阐明了百里香酚和玉米醇溶蛋白之间的疏水相互作用，这有助于成功包埋百里香酚。动态光散射 （DLS） 研究表明，百里香酚在 ZN 中的包埋使尺寸从 202 ± 1.4 nm 增加到 212 ± 1 nm，而在空隙和 TH-ZN 的情况下，zeta 电位值分别从 -42 ± 3 mV 降低到 -37 ± 2 mV。此外，TH-ZNs 对 C 表现出更高的抗菌和抗生物膜功效。空肠与游离百里香酚相比持续时间更长。 这些结果表明，TH-ZNs 抑制细菌生长，同时无细胞毒性，从而提高了植物药开发替代纳米疗法来对抗耐药性人畜共患病原体的整体效率。