Investigation on the Synergy between Membrane Permeabilizing Amphiphilic α-Hydrazido Acids and Commonly Used Antibiotics against Drug-Resistant Bacteria

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The growth of (multi)drug resistance in bacteria is among the most urgent global health issues. Monocationic amphiphilic α-hydrazido acid derivatives are structurally simple mimics of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with fewer drawbacks. Their mechanism of membrane permeabilization at subtoxic concentrations was found to begin with an initial electrostatic attraction of isolated amphiphile molecules to the phospholipid heads, followed by a rapid insertion of the apolar portions. As the accumulation into the bilayer proceeded, the membrane increased its fluidity and permeability without being subjected to major structural damage. After having ascertained that α-hydrazido acid amphiphiles do not interact with bacterial DNA, they were subjected to synergy evaluation for combinations with conventional antibiotics. Synergy was observed for combinations with tetracycline against sensitive