USF researchers have developed a method of treating or preventing drug resistant bacterial infections including methicillin-resistant biofilm infections such as MRSA via the administration of a therapeutically effective amount of darwinolide. Darwinolide is a natural product with selective pharmacological properties toward the biofilm phase of MRSA. It has been shown that darwinolide reduces, eliminates or otherwise inhibits MRSA biofilms with a high degree of cytotoxicity towards MRSA. Preliminary results showed that after darwinolide treatment, only 1.6% of MRSA cells demonstrated growth. Further, this compound presents low toxicity towards mammalian cells and has a unique chemical structure with a previously undescribed carbon skeleton. Therefore, darwinolide and its variants have the potential to serve as effective treatments against resistant infectious diseases and may help in the development of a new generation of antibiofilm agents.
Biofilm Eradication Concentrations for Darwinolide Towards a MRSA Strain