R&D Campus, LG Household & Health Care, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34114, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 14;7(1):8107. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-08558-x.
A biofilm, a community of microorganisms, is highly resistant to antibiotics, resulting in massive losses in various areas. We herein present a strategy to remove Streptococcus mutans biofilms through a spontaneous exfoliation by the synergistic effect between zwitterion and sugar alcohols. It is assumed that the anionic site of zwitterion can be coupled with sugar alcohols and the cationic site remains in the state of lacking electrons. The cationic site allows the complexes to be delivered to negatively charged exopolysaccharides of biofilms. This strategy facilitates a significant increase in the ability of sugar alcohols to disperse aggregated exopolysaccharides. In this work, it was demonstrated that the mixture of betaine and erythritol existed as a complex in water and that the complex induced a spontaneous detachment of biofilms from the surface to which the biofilms had been adhered. This detachment resulted from a reduction in adhesive forces of the biofilms due to an increase in solubility of bacterial exopolysaccharides. The effects triggered by the formation of complex between zwitterion and sugar alcohol provide a simple and safe way to remove biofilms without antibiotics and physical forces.
生物膜是微生物群落，对抗生素具有高度抗性，导致在各个领域造成巨大损失。我们在此提出了一种通过两性离子和糖醇的协同作用自发脱落后清除变形链球菌生物膜的策略。据推测，两性离子的阴离子部位可以与糖醇结合，而阳离子部位仍然处于缺电子状态。阳离子部位允许复合物被递送到生物膜的带负电荷的胞外多糖上。该策略显著提高了糖醇分散聚集胞外多糖的能力。在这项工作中，证明了甜菜碱和赤藓糖醇在水中以复合物的形式存在，并且该复合物诱导生物膜从其附着的表面自发脱落。这种脱落在一定程度上是由于细菌胞外多糖的溶解度增加，从而降低了生物膜的粘附力。两性离子和糖醇形成复合物所引发的效应提供了一种简单而安全的方法，无需使用抗生素和物理力即可去除生物膜。
