Peptidomimetic polyurethanes disrupt surface established bacterial biofilms and prevent biofilm formation

Abstract

Antibiofilm| Biofilm disrupting| Bacteria-surface interactions| Bacterial adhesion| Biofilm| ABSTRACT: Over 80% of all chronic bacterial infections in humans are associated with biofilms, which are surface-associated bacterial communities encased within a secreted exopolysaccharide matrix that can provide resistance to environmental and chemical insults. Biofilm formation triggers broad adaptive changes in the bacteria, allowing them to be almost a thousand-fold more resistant to conventional antibiotic treatments and host immune responses. The failure of antibiotics to eliminate biofilms leads to persistent chronic infections and can promote the development of antibiotic-resistant strains. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop agents that effectively prevent biofilm formation and eradicate established biofilms. Herein, we present water-soluble synthetic peptidomimetic polyurethanes that can disrupt surface established biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli, all of which show tolerance to the conventional antibiotics polymyxin B and ciprofloxacin. Furthermore, these polyurethanes prevent bacterial attachment and stimulate bacterial surface motility to inhibit biofilm formation of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria at sub-inhibitory concentrations, without being toxic to mammalian cells. Our results show that these polyurethanes show promise as a platform for the development of therapeutics that target biofilms and modulate surface interactions of bacteria for the treatment of chronic biofilm-associated infections and as antibiofilm agents.

Functional insights to the development of bioactive material for combating bacterial infections

“…Current treatment relies on mechanical and physical disruption, which has the potential to further spread and exacerbate the infection to other surfaces (Koo et al, 2017). On the other hand, Vishwakarma et al (2021) constructed peptidomimetic polyurethanes to augment bacterial surface motility, prevent surface attachment and disrupt established biofilms of various clinically relevant strains like MRSA at subinhibitory concentrations.…”