title: Sodium houttuyfonate inhibits biofilm formation and alginate biosynthesis-associated gene expression in a clinical strain ofPseudomonas aeruginosa in vitro.
abstract: The increasing multidrug resistance ofPseudomonas aeruginosahas become a serious public-health problem. In the present study, the inhibitory activities of sodium houttuyfonate (SH) against biofilm formation and alginate production in a clinical strain ofP.aeruginosa(AH16) were investigatedin vitrousing crystal violet dying and standard curve methods, respectively. The cellular morphology ofP. aeruginosatreated with SH was observed using a scanning electron microscope. Furthermore, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to identify differences in the expression levels of genes associated with alginate biosynthesis as a result of the SH treatment. The results indicated that SH significantly inhibited biofilm formation, and decreased the levels of the primary biofilm constituent, alginate, inP. aeruginosaAH16 at various stages of biofilm development. In addition, scanning electron microscopy observations demonstrated that SH markedly altered the cellular morphology and biofilm structure ofP. aeruginosa. Furthermore, the results from the reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that SH inhibited biofilm formation by mitigating the expression of thealgDandalgRgenes, which are associated with alginate biosynthesis. Therefore, the present study has provided novel insights into the potent effects and underlying mechanisms of SH-induced inhibition of biofilm formation in a clinical strain ofP. aeruginosa.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui 230038, P.R. China.
authors.forename: DA-Qiang
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui 230038, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Huijuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui 230038, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qiangjun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui 230038, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Weifeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa; alginate; biofilm; in vitro; sodium hottuyfonate