therapeutic effects of silver nanoparticle and l-carnitine on aerobic vaginitis in mice: an experimental study

introduction: aerobic vaginitis (av) is a type of vaginal infection that occurs at the reproductive age of women. in this study, we aimed to study the possible anti-av therapeutic effects of silver nanoparticles (agnps) and l-carnitine (lc) in the mouse model. methods: av model was established by intra-vaginal inoculation of 108 cfu/ml staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli (1:1) in adult nmri mice. susceptibilities of the bacteria were examined against agnps by inhibitory concentration (ic-50 and ic-90) and minimum biofilm inhibitory concentration (mbic- 90) methods. the regimens therapy was intravaginal inoculation of agnps at mbic- 90 and a daily injection of 250 mg/kg lc for two weeks. mice were classified into healthy (control) and av groups and then treated by lc, agnps, and agnps + lc. the vaginal smears were taken daily and tissue sections were prepared using the hematoxylin and eosin (h e) method. results: minimum inhibitory concentrations (mics) of agnps for e. coli, s. aureus, and their mixture were 250, 125, and 500 ppm, and their mbic-90% were 500, 250, and 1000 ppm, respectively. the estrus cycle of mice treated with co-administration of agnps and lc was similar to the control group (p 0.05). the results of histology also showed that infected mice were treated with agnps and lc, simultaneously. conclusion: single bacteria are more sensitive than their mixed model to these nps. coadministration of agnps as an antibacterial agent and lc as an antioxidant agent can treat av in the infected mice.