Abstract
A novel family of antimicrobial drugs is known as cationic steroid antimicrobials (CSA-ceragenin), which includes CSA44 and CSA 131. This work aimed to examine the antibacterial and antimycotic properties of CSA44 and CSA 131 against Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Candida albicans. Additionally, the cytotoxicity of these compounds was assessed on dental pulp stem cell lines. The CSA-44 compound with a concentration of 0.05% had the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.04 µg/ml against E. faecalis. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for all concentrations of CSA-44 and CSA-131 against S. aureus ranged from 2.50 to 5.00 µg/ml. Inhibitory action against C. albicans was found to be most pronounced in CSA-131 and CSA-44. The 0.20% of CSA-44 showed the highest minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) value of 5.00 µg/ml against S. aureus. The 1xMIC of CSA-44 (0.2%) decreased the bacterial load against E. faecalis at 3 hours, even though the same effect was recorded at 6 hours against S. aureus. CSA-44 and CSA-131 prevented the growth at 1.5xMIC at 3 h, whereas 1xMIC concentration inhibited the growth at 6 h for all tested microorganisms. The lowest viability was observed at CSA-131 (0.2% 100%), whereas CSA-44 shows lower toxicity than CSA-131 at the same dose. This study presented herein showed that CSA44 and CSA131 have significant superiority, especially against yeast infections. Therefore, these agents can be used as alternative options in endodontic treatments.