Oxidative Stress and Antimicrobial Activity of Chromium(III) and Ruthenium(II) Complexes onStaphylococcus aureusandEscherichia coli
The prevalence of antibiotic resistance has resulted in the need for new approaches to be developed to combat previously easily treatable infections. The main aim of this work was to establish the potential of the syntheticα-diimine chromium(III) and ruthenium(II) complexes (where theα-diimine ligands are bpy = 2,2-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, and dppz = dipyrido[3,2-a:2′,3′-c]-phenazine) like [Cr(phen)3]3+, [Cr(phen)2(dppz)]3+, [Ru(phen)3]2+, and [Ru(bpy)3]2+as antibacterial agents by generating oxidative stress. The [Cr(phen)3]3+and [Cr(phen)2(dppz)]3+complexes showed activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 0.125 μg/mL to 1 μg/mL, while [Ru(phen)3]2+and [Ru(bpy)3]2+do not exhibit antimicrobial activity against the two bacterial genera studied at the concentration range used. When ciprofloxacin was combined with [Cr(phen)3]3+for the inhibition ofStaphylococcus aureusandEscherichia coli, an important synergistic effect was observed, FIC 0.066 forS. aureusand FIC 0.064 forE. coli. The work described here shows that chromium(III) complexes are bactericidal forS. aureusandE. coli. Our results indicate thatα-diimine chromium(III) complexes may be interesting to open new paths for metallodrug chemotherapy against different bacterial genera since some of these complexes have been found to exhibit remarkable antibacterial activities.