Advancement and future perspectives on ampicillin-loaded antimicrobial polymers- A review

Numerous infectious diseases are increasing day by day due to microbial contamination. The spread of these diseases has a major impact on human health. The proliferation of microbes including bacteria, fungi, virus, etc can be reduced by the use of antimicrobial polymers which is chemically stable and less toxic. Antimicrobial polymers play a major role in various fields including textiles, food packaging, medical devices, etc. In recent days polymeric antibiotic conjugates are developed as a viable option to increase the antimicrobial activity of the polymers to improve biofilm resistance. The development of multidrug-resistant bacteria can be controlled by synthesizing polymer-antibiotic conjugates. In this review article, we have given an overview of ampicillin-loaded antimicrobial polymers and hydrogels used for various applications in the last decade and also summarized the possible antimicrobial mechanism and their cytotoxicity. Furthermore, the recent advances and some future perspectives regarding polymeric-antibiotic conjugates are also discussed.