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Photodynamic antimicrobial effects of bis-indole alkaloid indigo from Indigofera truxillensis Kunth (Leguminosae)

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Abstract

Multidrug-resistant microbial infections represent an exponentially growing problem affecting communities worldwide. Photodynamic therapy is a promising treatment based on the combination of light, oxygen, and a photosensitizer that leads to reactive oxygen species production, such as superoxide (type I mechanism) and singlet oxygen (type II mechanism) that cause massive oxidative damage and consequently the host cell death. Indigofera genus has gained considerable interest due its mutagenic, cytotoxic, and genotoxic activity. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the effect of crude extracts, alkaloidal fraction, and isolated substance derived from Indigofera truxillensis in photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy on the viability of bacteria and yeast and evaluation of mechanisms involved. Our results showed that all samples resulted in microbial photoactivation in subinhibitory concentration, with indigo alkaloid presenting a predominant photodynamic action through type I mechanism. The use of CaCl2 and MgCl2 as cell permeabilizing additives also increased gram-negative bacteria susceptibility to indigo.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to FAPESP, CAPES, CNPq, and FAEPEX-UNICAMP for financial support, Prof. Jorge Yoshio Tamashiro for the plant identification, and to Larissa Levy for technical assistance in the experiments.

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The manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, PPG BTPB e PPG BV, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Nathalia Luiza Andreazza, Caroline C. de Lourenço & Marcos José Salvador

  2. Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), 81530-900, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Maria Élida Alves Stefanello

  3. Instituto de Química, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Teresa Dib Zambon Atvars

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  1. Nathalia Luiza Andreazza
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  2. Caroline C. de Lourenço
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  3. Maria Élida Alves Stefanello
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  4. Teresa Dib Zambon Atvars
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  5. Marcos José Salvador
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Correspondence to Nathalia Luiza Andreazza or Marcos José Salvador.

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Andreazza, N.L., de Lourenço, C.C., Stefanello, M.É.A. et al. Photodynamic antimicrobial effects of bis-indole alkaloid indigo from Indigofera truxillensis Kunth (Leguminosae). Lasers Med Sci 30, 1315–1324 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-015-1735-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-015-1735-4

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