In-vitro activity of lipoic acid against Ureaplasma urealyticum and Ureaplasma parvum isolated from women with infections of the urogenital tract. A pilot study

Abstract

Several species of Ureaplasma bacteria are known to be present in the urogenital tract of humans, in both healthy individuals and symptomatic patients. These pathogens are associated with urogenital tract infections, infertility problems and spontaneous abortion in humans. The present study involved 77 strains of Ureaplasma species (Ureaplasma spp.), including 21 Ureaplasma urealyticum (U. urealyticum) strains and 56 Ureaplasma parvum (U. parvum) strains. Lipoic acid (LA) and its reduced form dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) are synthesized in all prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Research of recent years increasingly points to therapeutic properties of exogenously supplemented LA. In our study, we examined for the first time the effect of LA on the bacteria multiplication and its bactericidal activity against U. urealyticum and U. parvum. The LA concentrations used were: 1200 µg/ml, 120 µg/ml, and 12 µg/ml. The titer for each strain of Ureaplasma spp. was estimated using the color changing units (CCU) assay. For CCU measurements, a series of 10-fold dilutions of each cell culture in 0.9% NaCl (titration) was prepared and 1 CCU/ml was defined as the highest dilution of cells at which color change was detected. The strongest bacteriostatic and bactericidal effect of LA was observed at a concentration of 1200 µg/ml. In contrast, at lower LA concentrations, stimulation of the bacteria multiplication was noted for 14% of the total number of strains tested. Taken together, the current data provide novel findings about potential beneficial antimicrobial effects of LA.

Lipoic Acid Does Not Affect The Growth of Mycoplasma hominis Cells In Vitro

“…In our previous research on Ureaplasma urealyticum and Ureaplasma parvum , we observed that LA only at a concentration of 1,200 μg/ml had a statistically significant ( p < 0.001) inhibitory effect on cell division of Ureaplasma strains compared to the control ( Biernat-Sudolska et al 2020 ).…”

“…The studies on the LA effect on bacteria multiplication and its bactericidal activity against these cells have not yet been published. The only paper that showed the antimicrobial activity of LA on bacterial cells belonging to the family Mycoplasmataceae (these were strains of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Ureaplasma parvum ) was published by Biernat-Sudolska et al (2020) .…”

Reactive Sulfur Compounds in the Fight against COVID-19

“…The applied therapy eliminated the need for liver transplantation [ 123 ]. The antibacterial effect of LA has not been so clearly demonstrated, however, there are several studies showing its effectiveness in this area [ 124 , 125 ].…”

Antimicrobial Activity of N,N-Diethyldithiocarbamate against Ureaplasma parvum and Ureaplasma urealyticum

“…who received antibacterial therapy initially with azithromycin and then doxycycline for 7 days, or vice versa, were still colonized with these bacteria after 6 weeks of treatment [ 6 ]. Biernat-Sudolska et al showed that as many as 90% of U. parvum strains and 83% of U. urealyticum strains present in the tracheal aspirate of premature newborns were resistant to ciprofloxacin belonging to the fluoroquinolone class [ 7 ]. Yang et al indicated that the resistance rates of levofloxacin were 82.43% for U. urealyticum and 84.69% for U. parvum , and those of moxifloxacin were 62.16% for U. urealyticum and 51.44% for U. parvum [ 8 ].…”