Version 1
: Received: 10 July 2024 / Approved: 10 July 2024 / Online: 11 July 2024 (11:27:17 CEST)
How to cite:
Alfei, S.; Zuccari, G.; Bacchetti, F.; Torazza, C.; Milanese, M.; Siciliano, C.; Athanassopoulos, C. M.; Piatti, G.; Schito, A. M. Synthesized Bis-Triphenyl Phosphonium-Based Nano Vesicles Have Potent and Selective Antibacterial Effects on Several Clinically Relevant Superbugs. Preprints2024, 2024070891. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0891.v1
Alfei, S.; Zuccari, G.; Bacchetti, F.; Torazza, C.; Milanese, M.; Siciliano, C.; Athanassopoulos, C. M.; Piatti, G.; Schito, A. M. Synthesized Bis-Triphenyl Phosphonium-Based Nano Vesicles Have Potent and Selective Antibacterial Effects on Several Clinically Relevant Superbugs. Preprints 2024, 2024070891. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0891.v1
Alfei, S.; Zuccari, G.; Bacchetti, F.; Torazza, C.; Milanese, M.; Siciliano, C.; Athanassopoulos, C. M.; Piatti, G.; Schito, A. M. Synthesized Bis-Triphenyl Phosphonium-Based Nano Vesicles Have Potent and Selective Antibacterial Effects on Several Clinically Relevant Superbugs. Preprints2024, 2024070891. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0891.v1
APA Style
Alfei, S., Zuccari, G., Bacchetti, F., Torazza, C., Milanese, M., Siciliano, C., Athanassopoulos, C. M., Piatti, G., & Schito, A. M. (2024). Synthesized Bis-Triphenyl Phosphonium-Based Nano Vesicles Have Potent and Selective Antibacterial Effects on Several Clinically Relevant Superbugs. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0891.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Alfei, S., Gabriella Piatti and Anna Maria Schito. 2024 "Synthesized Bis-Triphenyl Phosphonium-Based Nano Vesicles Have Potent and Selective Antibacterial Effects on Several Clinically Relevant Superbugs" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0891.v1
Abstract
The increasing emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens, due to antibiotics misuse, translates in obstinate infections, with high morbidity and high-cost hospitalizations. To oppose these MDR superbugs, new antimicrobial options are necessary. Although both quaternary ammonium (QASs) and phosphonium salts (QPSs) possess antimicrobial effects, QPSs have been studied at lesser extent. Recently, we have successfully reported on the bacteriostatic and cytotoxic effects of a triphenyl phosphonium salt against MDR isolates of Enterococcus and Staphylococcus genus. Here, aiming at finding new antibacterial devices possibly bactericidal towards a broader spectrum of clinically relevant bacteria, responsible for severe human infections, we synthesized a water-soluble, sterically hindered quaternary phosphonium salt (BPPB). It encompasses two triphenyl phosphonium groups linked by a C12 alkyl chain, thus embodying the characteristics of molecules known as bola-amphiphiles. BPPB was characterized by ATR-FTIR, NMR and UV spectroscopy, FIA-MS (ESI), elemental analysis and potentiometric titrations. Optical and DLS analyses evidenced BPPB tendency to self-forming spherical vesicles in solution (45 nm by DLS), having a positive zeta potential (+18 mV). The antibacterial effects of BPPB were for the first time assessed against fifty clinical isolates of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative species. Excellent antibacterial effects were observed on all strains tested, involving all the most worrying species included in ESKAPE bacteria. The lowest MICs were 0.250 µg/mL, while the highest ones (32 µg/mL) were observed on MDR Gram-negative metallo-β-lactamase-producing bacteria and/or species resistant also to colistin, carbapenems, cefiderocol, so that intractable with current available antibiotics. Moreover, when administered to HepG2 human hepatic and Cos-7 monkey kidney cell lines, BPPB showed selectivity indices > 10 for all Gram-positive isolated and for clinically relevant Gram-negative superbugs such as those of E. coli species, thus being very promising to be clinically developed.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
