ORCID

0000-0002-3359-164X (Muratori), 0000-0002-8736-0433 (Purcell)

College

The Graduate School

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Graduate Level

Doctoral

Graduate Program/Concentration

Biomedical Sciences - Microbiology and Immunology

Publication Date

2023

DOI

10.25883/8hfr-gn13

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a biofilm-forming pathogen. S. aureus treatment is marked by the development of antibiotic resistance. The public health impact has increased since the emergence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), which has started to show intermediate resistance to vancomycin in MRSA. Nano-second pulse electric fields (nsPEFs) are low-energy and high-power electric pulses, which have been suggested to sensitize pathogens to antibiotics by creating transient pores in the cell membrane. Our combinatorial treatment includes nsPEF pre-treatment and vancomycin post-treatment of MRSA cells. Our results show that MRSA log phase cells had the highest susceptibility to vancomycin. Surprisingly, MRSA biofilm cells were more susceptible to vancomycin when compared to MRSA stationary planktonic cells. These results demonstrate that nsPEFs could remove the pathogen’s protective barrier that is caused by biofilms. They also have the potential of increasing the efficacy of current antibiotic treatments against other pathogens that are developing resistance to antibiotics.

Keywords

MRSA, Antibiotic resistance, Biofilm, Vancomycin, nsPEFs

Disciplines

Bacteria | Biochemistry | Pathogenic Microbiology

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Using nsPEFs to Sensitize MRSA to Vancomycin Treatment


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