JAC Advance Access originally published online on April 14, 2003
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (2003) 51, 1153-1158
© 2003 The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
Aspects of the antimicrobial mechanisms of action of a polyquaternium and an amidoamine
1 Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, Cardiff; 2 School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK
Received 30 October 2002; returned 22 January 2003; revised 10 February 2003; accepted 25 February 2003
Objectives: Polyquad (Alcon) (polyquaternium-1, PQ-1) and Aldox (Alcon) (myristamidopropyl dimethylamine, MAPD) are two biocides that are used commercially in a contact lens disinfecting solution, namely Opti-Free Express (Alcon) multi-purpose disinfecting solution. Their potential mechanisms of action were investigated against a range of common ocular pathogens. These were Acanthamoeba castellanii (trophozoites and cysts), Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens and Staphylococcus aureus.
Methods: Three aspects were investigated: the lethal effects of the biocides on the organisms, the leakage of K+ from treated cells, and the lysis of spheroplasts derived from the cells.
Results: PQ-1 was found to have predominantly antibacterial activity, and induced K+ leakage from the bacteria and C. albicans. It also caused lysis of spheroplasts of S. marcescens, but not those of C. albicans. MAPD was active against all of the organisms, but showed higher activity against the fungi and amoeba. It induced K+ leakage from A. fumigatus and C. albicans, and like PQ-1, lysed the spheroplasts of S. marcescens but not C. albicans.
Conclusions: The two biocides have different spectra of antimicrobial activity. PQ-1 has mainly antibacterial activity, whereas MAPD was active against all of the test organisms, particularly the fungi.
Keywords: biocides, potassium leakage, spheroplast lysis
* Corresponding author. Tel: +44-29-2087-5812; Fax: +44-29-2087-4149; E-mail: russellD2@cardiff.ac.uk
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  D. B. Vieira and A. M. Carmona-Ribeiro Cationic lipids and surfactants as antifungal agents: mode of action J. Antimicrob. Chemother., October 1, 2006; 58(4): 760 - 767. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. E. Codling, B. V. Jones, E. Mahenthiralingam, A. D. Russell, and J.-Y. Maillard Identification of genes involved in the susceptibility of Serratia marcescens to polyquaternium-1 J. Antimicrob. Chemother., August 1, 2004; 54(2): 370 - 375. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|