Antibiofilm Activity of the Ternary Cadmium Complex with 1,10-phenanthroline and Cyanoguanidine against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

DANA BELÉN FALKIEVICH; JUAN JOSÉ MARTÍNEZ MEDINA; LIBERTAD LEONOR LÓPEZ TÉVEZ; E.G. FERRER; P.A.M. WILLIAMS

Virtual

Congreso; 6ta Reunión Internacional de Ciencias Farmacéuticas; 2022

Universidad Nacional de Córdoba y Universidad Nacional de Rosario

In recent years, infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant strains have become a global health challenge. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a pathogen that causes infections in immunocompromised patients. Control of this pathogen has become increasingly difficult due to its adaptive resistance mechanisms, like biofilm-mediated resistance. A biofilm is an aggregate of microorganisms that adhere to each other on a living or non-living surface. Previously, we determined the minimum inhibitory concentration of the [Cd(1,10-phenanthroline)2(SO4)H2O]cyanoguanidine•5H2O complex (187 μg/mL), cyanoguanidine (>1500 μg/mL) and phenanthroline (375 μg/mL) against P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853. Besides, the Artemia salina test showed an improved safety profile for the complex. In this work, we evaluated the antibiofilm activity of the cadmium complex and the ligand phenanthroline against this bacterial strain by using the crystal violet assay (pre- and post-adhesion assays) in 96-well microtiter plates. The complex showed dose-dependent antibiofilm activity, inhibiting the biofilm formation close to 25%, 70%, and 80% in the pre-adhesion assay (20%, 50%, and 55% in the post-adhesion assay) at 0.25, 0.5, and 1 MIC values, respectively. The ligand phenanthroline showed similar behavior. In summary, a complexation is a powerful tool for designing alternative antimicrobial drugs active against biofilm-forming strains and with an improved safety profile.