The Enhancement of the Photodynamic Therapy and Ciprofloxacin Activity against Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Strains by Polypodium vulgare Rhizome Aqueous Extract.

Dorota Tichaczek-Goska,Michał Gleńsk,Dorota Wojnicz

doi:10.3390/pathogens10121544

Dorota Tichaczek-Goska, Michał Gleńsk + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10121544

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Journal: Pathogens	Publication Date: Nov 25, 2021
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Wroclaw Medical University

Abstract

Antibiotic therapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT) are commonly used to treat bacterial infections. Unfortunately, these methods are often ineffective. Therefore, agents that could effectively support antibiotic therapy and PDT in the inactivation of pathogens are being sought. Phytotherapy seems to be a good solution. The aim of the current research was to examine whether Polypodium vulgare extract (PvE) would improve the effectiveness of PDT and ciprofloxacin (CIP), an antibiotic that is commonly used to treat urinary tract infections in humans. UHPLC-MS analysis was performed to establish the PvE content. Chlorin e6 has been used as a photosensitizer in the PDT method. Biofilm production was established using the spectrophotometric method. The live cell count in planktonic and biofilm consortia was determined with the microdilution method and DAPI staining. The decrease of the bacterial survival, biofilm mass synthesis, and morphological changes of the bacteria under the combined treatments: PDT+PvE and CIP+PvE was noted. The results clearly indicate that the PvE can be used as a good agent for improving the efficacy of both PDT and the CIP activity to inactivate uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains. The obtained results are of particular value in the era of widespread and still-increasing drug resistance among bacterial pathogens.

Highlights

Accepted: 23 November 2021The growing resistance of pathogenic bacteria to commonly used antibiotics [1,2]and frequent failures in the use of these chemotherapeutics in the treatment of bacterial infections has led to the search for alternative methods and agents that exhibit high antimicrobial activity
Frequent failures in the use of these chemotherapeutics in the treatment of bacterial infections has led to the search for alternative methods and agents that exhibit high antimicrobial activity
UHPLC-MS analysis of P. vulgare rhizome extract (PvE) that was used in our study revealed the presence mainly of osladin and polypodoside A belonging to saponins, flavonoids: catechin derivatives and afzelechin, and ecdysteroid hormones: hydroxyecdysone and polypodine B

Summary

Introduction

Frequent failures in the use of these chemotherapeutics in the treatment of bacterial infections has led to the search for alternative methods and agents that exhibit high antimicrobial activity. One such alternative antimicrobial method is photodynamic therapy (PDT) [3]. PDT has been used in various medical procedures, such as dental procedures [8], dermatological problems [9,10], or in cancer treatment [11,12]. PDT is used to inactivate different bacterial pathogens including uropathogenic strains [13,14,15].

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