Antimicrobial peptide A20L: and antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against carbapenem-resistant .

UNLABELLED

Antimicrobial resistance has become a growing public health threat in recent years. is one of the priority pathogens listed by the World Health Organization. Antimicrobial peptides are considered promising alternatives to antibiotics due to their broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and low resistance. In this study, we investigated the antibacterial activity of antimicrobial peptide A20L against antibacterial activity of A20L against was demonstrated by broth microdilution method. We confirmed the efficacy of A20L by infection model. In addition, we found that A20L also had certain antibiofilm activity by crystal violet staining. We also evaluated the safety and stability of A20L, and the results revealed that at a concentration of ≤128 µg/mL, A20L exhibited negligible toxicity to RAW264.7 cells and no substantial toxicity to . A20L was stable at different temperatures and with low concentration of serum [5% fetal bovine serum (FBS)]; however, Ca, Mg, and high serum concentrations reduced the antibacterial activity of A20L. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and membrane permeability tests revealed that A20L may exhibit antibacterial action by damaging bacterial cell membranes and increasing the permeability of outer membrane. Taken together, our results suggest that A20L has significant development potential as a therapeutic antibiotic alternative, which provides ideas for the treatment of infection.

IMPORTANCE

A20L showed antibacterial and anti-infective efficacy and against . It can have an antibacterial effect by disrupting the integrity of cell membranes. A20L displayed anti-biofilm and anti-inflammatory activity against carbapenem-resistant and certain application potential , which provides a new idea for the clinical treatment of biofilm-associated infections.