Abstract

The rise of antimicrobial resistance demands the development of more rapid screening methods for the detection of antimicrobial resistance in clinical samples to both give the patient the proper treatment and expedite the treatment of patients. Cerium oxide nanoparticles may serve a useful role in diagnostics due to their ability to exist in a mixed valence state and act as either oxidizing agents or reducing agents. Considering that cerium oxide nanoparticles have been shown to shift in absorbance upon oxidation, a useful method of antimicrobial resistance detection could be based on the oxidation of cerium oxide nanoparticles. Herein, an assay is described whereby cerium oxide nanoparticle oxidation is a function of glucose metabolism of bacterial samples in the presence of an antimicrobial agent. Cerium oxide nanoparticles were shown to have an absorbance in the range of 395nm upon oxidation by hydrogen peroxide whereas mixed valence cerium oxide nanoparticles lacked an absorbance around 395nm. In the presence the hydrogen peroxide-producing glucose oxidase and either increasing concentrations of glucose or bacterial medium supplemented with increasing concentrations of glucose, cerium oxide nanoparticles were shown to increase in absorbance at 395nm. This oxidation assay was capable of measuring differences in the absorbance of E. coli and S. aureus samples grown in the presence of inhibitory and non-inhibitory concentrations of ampicillin in as little as six hours. Therefore, this cerium oxide nanoparticle oxidation assay may be very useful for use in clinical laboratories for the detection of antimicrobial resistance due to the relatively low cost, no requirement for specialized equipment and, most importantly, the reduced incubation time of the assay to as little as six hours compared to current gold standard antimicrobial resistance detection methods that require 24 hours.; This assay may thus also help partially circumvent the issue of knowledge of antimicrobial resistance in infected patients before prescribing improper regimens.

Notes

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Thesis Completion

2011

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Perez, J. Manuel

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Medicine

Degree Program

Molecular Biology and Microbiology

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Medicine;Medicine -- Dissertations, Academic

Format

PDF

Identifier

CFH0003760

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Document Type

Honors in the Major Thesis

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