Antibacterial activity of amino- and amido- terminated poly (amidoamine)-G6 dendrimer on isolated bacteria from clinical specimens and standard strains

Background: Nanoscale poly (amidoamine) dendrimers have been investigated for their biological demands, but their antibacterial activity has not been widely discovered. Thus, the sixth generation of poly (amidoamine) dendrimer (PAMAM-G6) was synthesized and its antibacterial activities were evaluated on Gram-negative bacteria; P. aeruginosa, E. coli, A. baumannii, S. typhimurium, S. dysenteriae, K. pneumoniae, P. mirabilis, and Gram-positive bacteria, and S.aureus and B. subtilis, which were isolated from different clinical specimens and standard strains of these bacteria. Methods: In this study, 980 specimens including urine (47%), blood (27%), sputum (13%), wounds (8%), and burns (5%) were collected from clinical specimens of 16 hospitals and clinics in city of Sabzevar, Iran. Then, the target bacteria were isolated and identified using standard methods. Minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentrations against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were determined according to guidelines described by clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI). Standard discs were prepared using 0.025, 0.25, 2.5, and 25 μg/mL concentrations of PAMAM-G6 on Mueller-Hinton agar plates to determinate the zone of inhibition. The cytotoxicity of PAMAM-G6 dendrimer was evaluated in HCT116 cells by MTT assay. Results: The most important isolated bacteria were E. coli (23.65%), S. aureus (24.7%), P. aeruginosa (10.49%), B. subtilis (7.7%), S. typhimurium (8.87%), A. baumannii (7.02%), K. pneumoniae (7.1%), P. mirabilis (6.46%), and S. dysenteriae (3.6%). Moreover, it was found that poly (amidoamine)–G6 exhibited more antibacterial efficacy on standard strains than isolated bacteria from clinical samples (p<0.05). The cytotoxicity of PAMAM-G6 to the cells showed that cytotoxicity depended on the concentration level and exposure time. Conclusion: The PAMAM-G6 dendrimer showed a positive impact on the removal of dominant bacterial isolated from clinical specimens and standard strains.