Functional Synergy Of Antimicrobial Peptides And Chlorhexidine Acetate Against Gram-Negative/Gram-Positive Bacteria And A Fungus In Vitro And In Vivo

Jie Zhu; Yibing Huang; Mingxia Chen; Cuihua Hu; Yuxin Chen

doi:10.2147/IDR.S218778

Functional Synergy Of Antimicrobial Peptides And Chlorhexidine Acetate Against Gram-Negative/Gram-Positive Bacteria And A Fungus In Vitro And In Vivo

Infect Drug Resist. 2019 Oct 15:12:3227-3239. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S218778. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Jie Zhu^{1

2}, Yibing Huang^{1

2}, Mingxia Chen³, Cuihua Hu⁴, Yuxin Chen^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Molecular Enzymology and Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, People's Republic of China.
² College of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, People's Republic of China.
³ Jiangsu ProteLight Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Jiangyin, People's Republic of China.
⁴ International Research Centre for Nano Handling and Manufacturing, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Background and purpose: To reduce the resistance and allergic reaction to chlorhexidine acetate (CHA) in the current treatment of (Bacterial vaginosis) BV and (vulvovaginal candidiasis) VVC in female vaginitis. In this study, the antimicrobial activities and mechanism of action of the synergistic effects of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) HPRP-A1 and HPRP-A2, and CHA, against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, and one fungus Candida albicans (C. albicans) were investigated in vitro and in mouse and rat vaginitis infection models in vivo.

Results: HPRP-A1, HPRP-A2 and CHA showed significant synergistic effects on the antimicrobial activities against different Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and C. albicans. The combined application of HPRP-A2 and CHA exhibited strong synergistic effects in the mouse and rat vaginitis models caused by bacteria or C. albicans.

Conclusion: This study may prompt the development of new drug combinations against vaginitis infections, including mixed bacterial and fungal infections and multi-drug-resistant infections.

Keywords: antibacterial; antifungal; antimicrobial peptide; chlorhexidine acetate; vaginitis.