Evaluation of anti-biofilm activity of acidic amino acids and synergy with ciprofloxacin on Staphylococcus aureus biofilms
Abstract
Acidic amino acids, aspartic acid (Asp) and glutamic acid (Glu) can enhance the solubility of many poorly soluble drugs including ciprofloxacin (Cip). One of the mechanisms of resistance within a biofilm is retardation of drug diffusion due to poor penetration across the matrix. To overcome this challenge, this work set to investigate novel counter ion approach with acidic amino acids, which we hypothesised will disrupt the biofilm matrix as well as simultaneously improve drug effectiveness. The anti-biofilm activity of D-Asp and D-Glu was studied on Staphylococcus aureus biofilms. Synergistic effect of combining D-amino acids with Cip was also investigated as a strategy to overcome anti-microbial resistance in these biofilms. Interestingly at equimolar combinations, D-Asp and D-Glu were able to significantly disperse (at 20 mM and 40 mM) established biofilms and inhibit (at 10 mM, 20 mM and 40 mM) new biofilm formation in the absence of an antibiotic. Moreover, our study confirmed L-amino acids also exhibit anti-biofilm activity. The synergistic effect of acidic amino acids with Cip was observed at lower concentration ranges (<40 mM amino acids and <90.54 µM, respectively), which resulted in 96.89% (inhibition) and 97.60% (dispersal) reduction in CFU with exposure to 40 mM amino acids. Confocal imaging indicated that the amino acids disrupt the honeycomb-like extracellular DNA (eDNA) meshwork whilst also preventing its formation.Citation
Warraich, A.A., Mohammed, A.R., Perrie, Y. et al. (2020) Evaluation of anti-biofilm activity of acidic amino acids and synergy with ciprofloxacin on Staphylococcus aureus biofilms. Sci Rep 10, 9021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66082-xPublisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLCJournal
Scientific ReportsAdditional Links
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66082-xType
Journal articleLanguage
enDescription
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Springer Nature. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66082-xISSN
2045-2322EISSN
2045-2322ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1038/s41598-020-66082-x
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/