Strain-specific anti-biofilm and antibiotic-potentiating activity of 3',4'-difluoroquercetin

Sci Rep. 2020 Aug 25;10(1):14162. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-71025-7.

Abstract

Antibacterial properties of 3',4'-difluoroquercetin (di-F-Q), a fluorine-substituted stable quercetin derivative, were investigated. Even though di-F-Q itself did not show interesting antibacterial activity, treatment of the Staphylococcus aureus strains with di-F-Q resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in biofilm formation with IC50 values of 1.8 ~ 5.3 mg/L. Also, the antibacterial activity of ceftazidime (CAZ) against carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) showed eightfold decrease upon combination with di-F-Q. Assessment of the antimicrobial activity of CAZ in combination with di-F-Q against 50 clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa confirmed 15.7% increase in the percentages of susceptible P. aeruginosa isolates upon addition of di-F-Q to CAZ. Further mechanistic studies revealed that di-F-Q affected the antibiotics efflux system in CRPA but not the β-lactamase activity. Thus, di-F-Q was almost equally effective as carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazine in inhibiting antibiotic efflux by P. aeruginosa. In vivo evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of CAZ-(di-F-Q) combination against P. aeruginosa showed 20% of the mice treated with CAZ-(di-F-Q) survived after 7 days in IMP carbapenemase-producing multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa infection group while no mice treated with CAZ alone survived after 2 days. Taken together, di-F-Q demonstrated unique strain-specific antimicrobial properties including anti-biofilm and antibiotic-potentiating activity against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa, respectively.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Outbred Strains
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Biofilms / classification
  • Biofilms / drug effects*
  • Ceftazidime / pharmacology
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
  • Drug Synergism
  • Female
  • Gram-Negative Bacteria / drug effects
  • Membrane Transport Proteins / drug effects
  • Mice
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Molecular Structure
  • Pseudomonas Infections / drug therapy
  • Quercetin / chemistry
  • Random Allocation
  • Staphylococcus aureus / drug effects
  • beta-Lactam Resistance / drug effects

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Membrane Transport Proteins
  • Quercetin
  • Ceftazidime