Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is known for forming bacterial biofilms that confer increased antimicrobial resistance. Combining antibiotics with antibiofilm agents is an alternative approach, but the antibiofilm ability of prodigiosin (PG), a potential antibiotic synergist, against antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) S. aureus remains to be understood. The antibiofilm activity of PG against 29 clinical AMR S. aureus strains was evaluated using crystal violet staining, and its synergistic effects with vancomycin (VAN) was confirmed using the checkerboard test. The viability and metabolic activity of biofilms and planktonic cells were also assessed. The results revealed that PG exhibited promising inhibitory activity against biofilm formation and synergistic activity with VAN. It effectively reduced the metabolic activity of biofilms and suppressed the production of exopolysaccharides, which might be attributed to the downregulation of biofilm-related genes such as sarA, agrA, and icaA. These findings suggest that PG could be used as a preventive coating or adjuvant against biofilms in clinical settings.

摘要

金黄色葡萄球菌因形成细菌生物膜而闻名，从而增加抗菌素耐药性。将抗生素与抗生物膜药物联合使用是一种替代方法，但灵菌红素 (PG)（一种潜在的抗生素增效剂）针对耐药性 (AMR)金黄色葡萄球菌的抗生物膜能力仍有待了解。PG对29种临床AMR金黄色葡萄球菌的抗生物膜活性使用结晶紫染色评估菌株，并使用棋盘试验证实其与万古霉素（VAN）的协同作用。还评估了生物膜和浮游细胞的活力和代谢活性。结果表明，PG 对生物膜形成具有良好的抑制活性，并与 VAN 具有协同活性。它有效降低了生物膜的代谢活性，抑制了胞外多糖的产生，这可能是由于生物膜相关基因如sarA、agrA和icaA的下调所致。这些发现表明，PG 可在临床环境中用作针对生物膜的预防性涂层或佐剂。