Abstract
Previous studies have shown that antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (aPDI) can be strongly potentiated by the addition of the non-toxic inorganic salt, potassium iodide (KI). This approach was shown to apply to many different photosensitizers, including the xanthene dye Rose Bengal (RB) excited by green light (540 nm). Rose Bengal diacetate (RBDA) is a lipophilic RB derivative that is easily taken up by cells and hydrolyzed to produce an active photosensitizer. Because KI is not taken up by microbial cells, it was of interest to see if aPDI mediated by RBDA could also be potentiated by KI. The addition of 100 mM KI strongly potentiated the killing of Gram-positive methicillin-resistant
Staphylocccus aureus
, Gram-negative
Eschericia coli
, and fungal yeast
Candida albicans
when treated with RBDA (up to 15 µM) for 2 hours followed by green light (540 nm, 10 J/cm
2
). Both RBDA aPDI regimens (400 µM RBDA with or without 400 mM KI followed by 20 J/cm
2
green light) accelerated the healing of MRSA-infected excisional wounds in diabetic mice, without damaging the host tissue.