Dimerization of 600 Da Branched Polyethyleneimine Improves β‐lactam Antibiotic Potentiation against Antibiotic Resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern in the medical field. Drug susceptible infections are often treated with β-lactam antibiotics, which bind to enzymes known as penicillin binding proteins (PBPs). When the PBPs are disabled, the integrity of the cell wall is compromised, leading to cell lysis. Resistance renders β-lactam antibiotics ineffective and clinicians turn to more effective, but often more toxic, antibiotics. An alternative approach is combining antibiotics with compounds that disable resistance mechanisms. Previously, we have shown that low-molecular weight 600 Da branched polyethyleneimine restores β-lactam susceptibility to Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens with antibiotic resistance. Here, this approach is extended to the homodimers of 600 Da BPEI that have improved potentiation properties compared to monomers of 600 Da BPEI and 1200 Da BPEI. The homodimers are synthesized by linking two 600 Da BPEI molecules with methylenebisacrylamide (MBAA). The resulting product was characterized with FTIR spectroscopy, 1H NMR spectroscopy, checkerboard microbroth dilution assays, and cell toxicity assays. These data show that the 600 Da BPEI homodimer is more effective than 1200 Da BPEI towards the potentiation of oxacillin against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis and the potentiation of piperacillin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

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