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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, April 2005, p. 1542-1552, Vol. 49, No. 4
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.4.1542-1552.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Photodynamic Effects of Novel XF Porphyrin Derivatives on Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells

T. Maisch,^1* C. Bosl,¹ R.-M. Szeimies,¹ N. Lehn,² and C. Abels^1,

Department of Dermatology,¹ Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany²

Received 21 July 2004/ Returned for modification 15 September 2004/ Accepted 14 December 2004

The worldwide rise in the rates of antibiotic resistance of bacteria underlines the need for alternative antibacterial agents. A promising approach to the killing of gram-positive antibiotic-resistant bacteria of the skin uses light in combination with a photosensitizer to induce a phototoxic reaction. Different concentrations (0 to 100 µM) of porphyrin-based photosensitizers (CTP1, XF70, and XF73) and different incubation times (5 min, 1 h, and 4 h) were used to determine phototoxicity against two methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains, one methicillin-sensitive S. aureus strain, one methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis strain, one Escherichia coli strain, and human keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Incubation with 0.005 µM XF70 or XF73, followed by illumination, yielded a 3-log₁₀ (99.9%) decrease in the viable cell numbers of all staphylococcal strains, indicating that the XF drugs have high degrees of potency against gram-positive bacteria and also that the activities of these novel drugs are independent of the antibiotic resistance pattern of the staphylococci examined. CTP1 was less potent against the staphylococci under the same conditions. At 0.005 µM, XF70 and XF73 demonstrated no toxicity toward fibroblasts or keratinocytes. No inactivation of E. coli was detected at this concentration. XF73 was confirmed to act via a reactive oxygen species from the results of studies with sodium azide (a quencher of singlet oxygen), which reduced the killing of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. When a quencher of superoxide anion and the hydroxyl radical was used, cell killing was not inhibited. These results demonstrate that the porphyrin-based photosensitizers had concentration-dependent differences in their efficacies of killing of methicillin-resistant staphylococcal strains via reactive oxygen species without harming eukaryotic cells at the same concentrations.

Present address: Dr. August Wolff GmbH & Co. Arzneimittel, 33611 Bielefeld, Germany.

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