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Use of non-thermal plasma pre-treatment to enhance antibiotic action against mature Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms

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Abstract

Non-thermal plasma (NTP), generated at atmospheric pressure by DC cometary discharge with a metallic grid, and antibiotics (gentamicin—GTM, ceftazidime—CFZ and polymyxin B—PMB), either alone or in combination, were used to eradicate the mature biofilm of Pseudomonas aeruginosa formed on Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Our aim was to find the conditions for NTP pre-treatment capable of enhancing the action of the antibiotics and thus reducing their effective concentrations. The NTP treatment increased the efficacy of relatively low concentrations of antibiotics. Generally, the highest effect was achieved with GTM, which was able to suppress the metabolic activity of pre-formed P. aeruginosa biofilms in the concentration range of 4–9 mg/L by up to 99%. In addition, an apparent decrease of biofilm-covered area was confirmed after combined NTP treatment and GTM action by SYTO®13 staining using fluorescence microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed a complete eradication of P. aeruginosa ATCC 15442 mature biofilm from Ti-6Al-4V alloy when using 0.25 h NTP treatment and subsequent treatment by 8.5 mg/L GTM. Therefore, NTP may be used as a suitable antibiofilm agent in combination with antibiotics for the treatment of biofilm-associated infections caused by this pathogen.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the “Operational Programme Prague—Competitiveness” (CZ.2.16/3.1.00/24503) and the “National Programme of Sustainability I”—NPU I LO1601 and Charles University research program “Progress Q25”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Martina Paldrychová, Eva Vaňková, Petra Kašparová, Eliška Sembolová, Olga Maťátková & Jan Masák

  2. Department of Physics and Measurements, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Martina Paldrychová, Eva Vaňková, Vladimír Scholtz & Jaroslav Julák

  3. Institute of Immunology and Microbiology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jaroslav Julák

Authors
  1. Martina Paldrychová
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  2. Eva Vaňková
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  4. Eliška Sembolová
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  5. Olga Maťátková
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  7. Vladimír Scholtz
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  8. Jaroslav Julák
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by MP, PK and ES. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MP and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Conceptualization: MP and EV, Introduction: MP, Methodology: MP, Formal analysis and investigation: MP, PK and ES, Writing—original draft preparation: MP and EV, Writing—review and editing: VS, Funding acquisition: OM and JM, Resources: OM, Supervision: JJ.

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Correspondence to Eva Vaňková.

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Paldrychová, M., Vaňková, E., Kašparová, P. et al. Use of non-thermal plasma pre-treatment to enhance antibiotic action against mature Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 36, 108 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-020-02891-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-020-02891-6

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