Curcumin Loaded ZIF 8 Nanomaterials Ameliorate Porcine Endometritis Like Lesions in a Mouse Model via Regulating Macrophage Polarization and Antibacterial Activity.

Porcine endometritis, primarily resulting from mixed bacterial infections, adversely impacts sow reproductive performance and leads to substantial economic losses in the pig farming sector. Traditional antibiotic treatment is limited due to bacterial resistance and drug residue issues. Curcumin (Cur) possesses inherent antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties; however, its use is restricted due to limited water solubility and low bioavailability. In this work, dominant pathogens were isolated and identified from vaginal swabs collected from 48 sows with clinical endometritis via 16S rRNA sequencing, followed by antibiotic susceptibility assessment. Cur-loaded ZIF-8 nanoparticles (Cur@ZIF-8) were synthesized for non-antibiotic therapeutic exploration against porcine endometritis. Physicochemical characterizations revealed that Cur@ZIF-8 possessed a hydrodynamic particle size of 106.2 nm, a curcumin loading efficiency of 10.8%, and an encapsulation efficiency of 86.4%. The nanoparticles exhibited uniform morphology, favorable dispersibility, and showed a moderate increase in curcumin release under acidic conditions. Hemolysis assays and mouse toxicity tests confirmed the favorable biocompatibility of Cur@ZIF-8 without obvious toxic effects. In vitro antibacterial evaluations demonstrated that Cur@ZIF-8 exerted potent bactericidal effects, with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against