Antibacterial effect of S-Porphin sodium photodynamic therapy on Staphylococcus aureus and multiple drug resistance Staphylococcus aureus

Antibacterial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) has been proposed as an alternative strategy to inactivate bacteria. This study was designed to investigate the antibacterial effect of a novel photosensitizer S-Porphin sodium (S-PS) on plankton and biofilm cultures of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and its multiple drug resistance strain S. aureus (MDR S. aureus).

The plate counting method was used to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of S-PS-aPDT. The bacterial viability was detected by SYTO9/PI. The intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was estimated by electron spin resonance spectroscopy and flow cytometry. The destruction of bacteria and biofilm was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively.

The aPDT induced antibacterial effect in S. aureus and MDR S. aureus was S-PS concentration- and light dose-dependent. S. aureus exhibited much higher sensitivity to aPDT than MDR S. aureus, regarding to cell killing, ROS level, as well as morphological damages under AFM observation. When pretreated with the efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs), the intracellular uptake of S-PS in MDR S. aureus increased and the coupled aPDT produced significantly enhanced antibacterial efficiency.

S-PS-aPDT exhibited excellent bactericidal activity in plankton and biofilms. S-PS might be a good candidate for using in PDT anti-bacterial field. The introduction of EPIs could effectively improve the killing effect of MDR S. aureus.