The Lantibiotic Lacticin 3147 Prevents Systemic Spread of Staphylococcus aureus in a Murine Infection Model

Abstract EN

The objective of this study was to investigate the in vivo activity of the lantibiotic lacticin 3147 against the luminescent Staphylococcus aureus strain Xen 29 using a murine model.

Female BALB/c mice (7 weeks old, 17 g) were divided into groups (n=5) and infected with the Xen 29 strain via the intraperitoneal route at a dose of 1×106 cfu/animal.

After 1.5 hr, the animals were treated subcutaneously with doses of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS; negative control) or lacticin 3147.

Luminescent imaging was carried 3 and 5 hours postinfection.

Mice were then sacrificed, and the levels of S.

aureus Xen 29 in the liver, spleen, and kidneys were quantified.

Notably, photoluminescence and culture-based analysis both revealed that lacticin 3147 successfully controlled the systemic spread of S.

aureus in mice thus indicating that lacticin 3147 has potential as a chemotherapeutic agent for in vivo applications.