The First Report of In Vitro Antifungal and Antibiofilm Photodynamic Activity of Tetra-Cationic Porphyrins Containing Pt(II) Complexes against for Onychomycosis Treatment.

Onychomycosis is a prevalent nail fungal infection, and is one of the most common microorganisms associated with it. One alternative therapy to the conventional treatment of onychomycosis is antimicrobial photoinactivation. This study aimed to evaluate for the first time the in vitro activity of cationic porphyrins with platinum(II) complexes and against . The minimum inhibitory concentration of porphyrins and reactive oxygen species was evaluated by broth microdilution. The yeast eradication time was evaluated using a time-kill assay, and a checkerboard assay assessed the synergism in combination with commercial treatments. In vitro biofilm formation and destruction were observed using the crystal violet technique. The morphology of the samples was evaluated by atomic force microscopy, and the MTT technique was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the studied porphyrins in keratinocyte and fibroblast cell lines. The porphyrin showed excellent in vitro antifungal activity against the tested strains. After white-light irradiation, eradicated fungal growth in 30 and 60 min. The possible mechanism of action was mixed by ROS generation, and the combined treatment with commercial drugs was indifferent. The significantly reduced the preformed biofilm in vitro. Lastly, the atomic force microscopy showed cellular damage in the tested samples, and did not show cytotoxicity against the tested cell lines. We conclude that is an excellent photosensitizer with promising in vitro results against strains.