Abstract

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, and it is commonly linked with bacterial infections that often complicate treatments. Recently, chemotherapeutics have been developed that are able to act as anti-cancer agents using delocalized lipophilic cations (DLCs) that are able to specifically target mitochondrial membranes of cancer cells. TPP1 is a newly developed chemotherapeutic drug that has activity against bladder cancer and melanoma cell lines in vitro. In order to determine if TPP1 has antimicrobial activity, TPP1 was tested against a common bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, to determine if antimicrobial activity was present. This testing was done using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and the zones of inhibition were determined. TPP1 did not appear to have any activity against PAO1 at the tested concentrations. To explore the delivery mechanism of water-soluble antimicrobial compounds, testing was done to determine if these compounds are able to swell into a poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel. The hydrogels were able to increase their mass by an average of 28.78% over eight hours. As well, the PVA hydrogel is an effective delivery method for water soluble antimicrobial compounds as they can have antimicrobial activity against PAO1 when swelled with silver nitrate

Advisor

Southerland, Marie

Department

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Disciplines

Biochemistry | Cellular and Molecular Physiology | Molecular Biology | Other Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology | Other Chemicals and Drugs

Publication Date

2022

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis Exemplar

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