Recent Advances in Drugs and Prodrugs Design in the Field of Infectious Diseases

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Pharmacy and Formulation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 1385

Special Issue Editors

Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: antimalarial and anticancer agents
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: antimalarial, antibiofilm, and anticancer agents

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Infectious diseases are among the top leading causes of death worldwide. The emergence of resistant microorganisms and new viruses poses a great threat to the efficacy of currently available antimicrobial agents. Therefore, novel antimicrobial strategies are urgently needed. One of the mostly explored and extensively employed strategies in drug discovery is the design of prodrugs, which can positively influence both the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the parent drug.

We invite researchers to submit their original research articles and/or reviews that cover areas including (but not limited to) the following:

  • Computational chemistry in the field of antimicrobial agents;
  • Discovery of new antimicrobial agents (small molecules/peptides/macromolecules);
  • Identification of new antimicrobial drug targets;
  • Prodrugs in the therapy of infectious diseases;
  • Natural products in antimicrobial drug discovery.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Zrinka Rajić
Prof. Dr. Ivana Perković
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antimicrobial agent
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • synthesis
  • prodrugs
  • natural products
  • drug target
  • computational chemistry in drug discovery

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 3563 KiB  
Article
Antimicrobial Agent against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm Monitored Using Raman Spectroscopy
by Jina Kim and Young-Won Chin
Pharmaceutics 2023, 15(7), 1937; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15071937 - 12 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1117
Abstract
The prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria has become a major challenge worldwide. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)—a leading cause of infections—forms biofilms on polymeric medical devices and implants, increasing their resistance to antibiotics. Antibiotic administration before biofilm formation is crucial. Raman spectroscopy was used to [...] Read more.
The prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria has become a major challenge worldwide. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)—a leading cause of infections—forms biofilms on polymeric medical devices and implants, increasing their resistance to antibiotics. Antibiotic administration before biofilm formation is crucial. Raman spectroscopy was used to assess MRSA biofilm development on solid culture media from 0 to 48 h. Biofilm formation was monitored by measuring DNA/RNA-associated Raman peaks and protein/lipid-associated peaks. The search for an antimicrobial agent against MRSA biofilm revealed that Eugenol was a promising candidate as it showed significant potential for breaking down biofilm. Eugenol was applied at different times to test the optimal time for inhibiting MRSA biofilms, and the Raman spectrum showed that the first 5 h of biofilm formation was the most antibiotic-sensitive time. This study investigated the performance of Raman spectroscopy coupled with principal component analysis (PCA) to identify planktonic bacteria from biofilm conglomerates. Raman analysis, microscopic observation, and quantification of the biofilm growth curve indicated early adhesion from 5 to 10 h of the incubation time. Therefore, Raman spectroscopy can help in monitoring biofilm formation on a solid culture medium and performing rapid antibiofilm assessments with new antibiotics during the early stages of the procedure. Full article
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