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Updated: Oct 21, 2026
An In Vitro Model to Study the Effect of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid-mediated Photodynamic Therapy on Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm
Published on: April 16, 2018
Evaluation of antimicrobial photodynamic activities of 5-aminolevulinic acid derivatives
Faiza Sajjad1, Ning-Ning Sun1, Ting Chen1
1Department of Pharmaceutical Science & Technology, College of Chemistry and Biology, DongHua University, Shanghai, China.
Background:
Antibiotic resistance is increasing day by day, thereby increase the chances of more infections by resistant bacteria. In this situation, antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is gaining more attraction.
Objective:
To evaluate the antimicrobial effect of ALA derivatives using photodynamic therapy.
Materials And Methods:
In this study, we evaluated the aPDT effect of different derivatives of 5-ALA. In vivo and in vitro studies were performed to measure the antimicrobial activity. Different light doses and different concentrations of drugs were used to test anti-bacterial effect of drugs as well as to detect any physiological changes in animal model after the treatment.
Results:
In vivo studies revealed that ALA-methyl ester, ALA-hexyl ester, and ALA-13A are potent photosensitizers. In vitro studies involved wound healing rate, body weight, and dietary intake were evaluated, and results showed that ALA, ALA-methyl ester, ALA-hexyl ester, and ALA-13A had good anti-bacterial effects, fast healing rate, and no effect on other physical parameters.
Conclusion:
Photodynamic therapy is increasingly used to treat different types of skin infections caused by bacterial strains. Our studies revealed that ALA-methyl ester, ALA-hexyl ester, and ALA-13A are promising photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy to inhibit the growth of resistant bacterial strains.
