| Popis: |
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are effective components of the host immune response and are widely distributed throughout nature. Recently, nontoxic antimicrobial polymers that mimic the structures of naturally occurring AMPs have been designed and are under development commercially as novel therapeutics. These compounds have several potential advantages over natural AMPs, including greater stability and reduced immunogenicity compared to natural peptides, relatively simple and scalable syntheses and the ability to tailor or “fine tune” their activities through combinatorial approaches. In previous work, we demonstrated the utility of certain generally regarded as safe (GRAS) flavorant and aroma compounds as enhancers of uptake and activity of clinically important antibiotics (Brehm-Stecher and Johnson, 2003). Here, we have extended this approach to include enhancement of biomimetic antimicrobial polymers. Three low molecular weight ( |
