Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

A new water-soluble bactericidal agent for the treatment of polymicrobial infections

Alessandro Presentato
* ,
Elena Piacenza
* ORCID logo ,
Antonino Scurria
,
Lorenzo Albanese
,
Federica Zabini
,
Francesco Meneguzzo
ORCID logo ,
Domenico Nuzzo
ORCID logo ,
Mario Pagliaro
* ORCID logo ,
Delia Chillura Martino
ORCID logo ,
Rosa Alduina
* ORCID logo ,
Rosaria Ciriminna
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 4 August 2020 / Approved: 5 August 2020 / Online: 5 August 2020 (03:34:49 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Presentato, A.; Piacenza, E.; Scurria, A.; Albanese, L.; Zabini, F.; Meneguzzo, F.; Nuzzo, D.; Pagliaro, M.; Martino, D.C.; Alduina, R.; Ciriminna, R. A New Water-Soluble Bactericidal Agent for the Treatment of Infections Caused by Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacterial Strains. Antibiotics 2020, 9, 586. Presentato, A.; Piacenza, E.; Scurria, A.; Albanese, L.; Zabini, F.; Meneguzzo, F.; Nuzzo, D.; Pagliaro, M.; Martino, D.C.; Alduina, R.; Ciriminna, R. A New Water-Soluble Bactericidal Agent for the Treatment of Infections Caused by Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacterial Strains. Antibiotics 2020, 9, 586.

Abstract

Grapefruit and lemon pectin obtained from the respective waste citrus peels via hydrodynamic cavitation in water only are powerful, broad-scope antimicrobial alternatives to antibiotics against Gram-negative and -positive pathogens. Dubbed IntegroPectin, these pectic polymers functionalized with citrus flavonoids and terpenes show superior antimicrobial activity when compared to commercial citrus pectin. Similarly to commercial pectin, lemon IntegroPectin determined ca. 3 log reduction of Staphylococcus aureus cells, while an enhanced activity of commercial citrus pectin was detected in the case of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells with a minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 15 mg mL-1. Although grapefruit and lemon IntegroPectin share equal MBC in the case of P. aeruginosa cells, grapefruit IntegroPectin shows boosted activity upon exposure of S. aureus cells with a 40 mg mL-1 biopolymer concentration being sufficient to achieve complete killing of the bacterial cells. Insight on the mechanism of action of these biocompatible antimicrobials and their effect on bacterial cells, at the morphological level, were obtained indirectly through Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and directly through scanning electron microscopy. In the era of antimicrobial resistance, these results are of great societal and sanitary relevance as they open new avenues to develop innovative antimicrobials for the treatment of polymicrobial infections unlikely to develop drug resistance.

Keywords

citrus pectin; lemon; grapefruit; IntegroPectin; flavonoids; citrus terpenes; polyphenols; antimicrobial resistance; Staphylococcus aureus; Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Immunology and Microbiology

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.

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