Fighting multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa with ocellatin peptides

What is it about?

Five ocellatin peptides previously isolated from the skin secretion of the frog Leptodactylus pustulatus were tested for antimicrobial activity and synergistic effects with antibiotics against P. aeruginosa. Among the peptides, Ocellatin-PT3 stood out, i) showing synergistic effects with ciprofloxacin and ceftazidime, which might hold promise for developing future combinatorial therapies and ii) inhibiting the proliferation of established P. aeruginosa biofilms, which was mostly due to a direct killing effect on the bacterial cells within the biofilm.

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Why is it important?

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats to modern medicine today. New antimicrobial agents for combating infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and/or associated to biofilms are urgently needed. We have shown the potential of one particular peptide, ocellatin-PT3, which may be a lead molecule for the design and development of novel antimicrobial peptides with significant activity and selectivity against antibiotic-resistant P. aeruginosa biofilms.

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