TY  - JOUR
A1  - Becam, Jérôme
A1  - Walter, Tim
A1  - Burgert, Anne
A1  - Schlegel, Jan
A1  - Sauer, Markus
A1  - Seibel, Jürgen
A1  - Schubert-Unkmeir, Alexandra
T1  - Antibacterial activity of ceramide and ceramide analogs against pathogenic Neisseria
T2  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Certain fatty acids and sphingoid bases found at mucosal surfaces are known to have antibacterial activity and are thought to play a more direct role in innate immunity against bacterial infections. Herein, we analysed the antibacterial activity of sphingolipids, including the sphingoid base sphingosine as well as short-chain C\(_{6}\) and long-chain C\(_{16}\)-ceramides and azido-functionalized ceramide analogs against pathogenic Neisseriae. Determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) demonstrated that short-chain ceramides and a ω-azido-functionalized C\(_{6}\)-ceramide were active against Neisseria meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae, whereas they were inactive against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Kinetic assays showed that killing of N. meningitidis occurred within 2 h with ω–azido-C\(_{6}\)-ceramide at 1 X the MIC. Of note, at a bactericidal concentration, ω–azido-C\(_{6}\)-ceramide had no significant toxic effect on host cells. Moreover, lipid uptake and localization was studied by flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and revealed a rapid uptake by bacteria within 5 min. CLSM and super-resolution fluorescence imaging by direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy demonstrated homogeneous distribution of ceramide analogs in the bacterial membrane. Taken together, these data demonstrate the potent bactericidal activity of sphingosine and synthetic short-chain ceramide analogs against pathogenic Neisseriae.
KW  - ceramide analogs
KW  - Neisseria
KW  - ceramide
Y1  - 2017
UR  - https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/15936
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159367
VL  - 7
ER  -