Abstract
Biofilm formation is an important factor in disease development by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Similar to many bacterial species, biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa is regulated by the bacterial quorum sensing system. The pel genes are responsible for the synthesis of a glucose-rich polysaccharide that is associated with biofilm initiation and maturation. The antibiofilm potential of ibuprofen has been reported; however, the effect of the drug on the expression of the genes involved with biofilm formation has rarely been described. In this work, the effect of ibuprofen on the biofilm formation and expression of pelD and pelF genes among pathogenic P. aeruginosa strains was investigated. Multiple drug-resistant P. aeruginosa strains were treated with ibuprofen at ½ MIC concentration and their biofilm formation and expression of pelD and pelF genes was determined using the crystal violet and real-time PCR assays, respectively. The results showed that the ibuprofen at 1024 µg/mL significantly reduced biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa strains by 52–77%, compared with the controls. In addition, treating the bacteria with ibuprofen decreased the expression of pelD and pelF genes to 0.56 and 0.69 folds, respectively. We hypothesized that the attenuation of the pel genes could be associated with the reduction of bacterial QS autoinducers, which in turn reduced cellular c-di-GMP level. This work suggests that ibuprofen is a potent antibiofilm drug that could be used to enhance bacterial susceptibility to antimicrobials through the inhibition of biofilm formation.
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Data availaibility statement
The majority of the data used to support the findings of this study were included in the manuscript. In addition, the additional data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- EPS:
-
Extracellular polymeric substances
- MIC:
-
Minimum inhibitory concentration
- NSAIDs:
-
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
- QS:
-
Quorum sensing
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Mahsa ghonouei rastgar: performed assays, Data collection Behnam Rasti: Study design, supervision, technically asistance, manuscript drafting Hojjatolah Zamani: Study design, supervision, Manuscript drafting
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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.
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Rastgar, M.G., Rasti, B. & Zamani, H. Ibuprofen involves with the reduced expression of pelD and pelF in pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. Arch Microbiol 204, 329 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-022-02930-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-022-02930-w