In the war against pathogens: photosensitizers optimization for photodynamic inactivation

ANDRÉS M. DURANTINI; NATALIA S. GSPONER; DANIEL A. HEREDIA; .MARIANA B. SPESIA, ; M. GABRIELA ALVAREZ,; M. ELISA MILANESIO, ; EDGARDO N. DURANTINI

Anales de la Asociación Química Argentina.

Asociación Química Argentina

Año: 2020 vol. 107 p. 33 - 64

2545-8655

Nowadays, infections caused by microorganisms are becoming difficult to eradicate due to the continuous emergence of multidrug resistant strains. Consequently, the search for new effective therapies is awfully necessary. In this way, photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of microorganisms has been proposed as an alternative to controlling microbial infections. This approach is based on the administration of a photosensitizer that rapidly binds to microbial cells. Under aerobiosis, excitation of the photosensitizer with light of an appropriate wavelength produces reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS react with the biomolecules into de cells, leading to the microbes death. Therefore, the goal of this review is to survey the different classes of photosensitizers that have been rationally design, synthesized, characterized and tested as antimicrobial agents in our research group. These compounds mainly involve porphyrin, chlorin and phthalocyanine derivatives. In addition, new ring structures based on BODIPY and fullerene C60 have been investigated to photoinactivate microorganisms. The results indicate that amphiphilic structures, bearing intrinsic or precursor of cationic charges, are effective as potential broad-spectrum antimicrobial photosensitizers. The mainly advantages of PDI are that microorganisms can be eradicated in very short time, resistance development in the target cells is improbable and damage to adjacent host tissues and disruption of normal microflora can be avoided.