Advances in the research of photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy for treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection / 中华烧伤杂志

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the advance in the research of both the mechanism of photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT) based on the principle of photodynamic therapy and the application of PACT in the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. Nowadays an inexorable prevalence of resistant bacteria observed worldwide, among which MRSA strains typically have a high potential of provoking outbreaks with intractability, makes it a pressing issue to develop new germicidal strategies. PACT is an emerging photochemistry-based technology. In the presence of oxygen, PACT, with the aid of the activation of photosensitizers to generate reactive oxygen species by the wavelength-specific light, destroys the structure of bacteria selectively and efficiently, with much lower bacterial resistance level than that of antibiotics. We expect that further research would elucidate the mechanism and develop clinical applications of PACT, and it may become a novel approach to solve the problem of MRSA infection in the future.