The effects of clofazimine on mycobacterium smegmatis biofilm formation

Abstract

Chemotherapy of tuberculosis (TB), a disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), is successful against actively-growing bacilli but ineffective against dormant/persistent organisms, found mainly in a protective lipid-laden granuloma, possibly necessitating the use of lipophilic antibiotics. In vitro, these bacilli are encased in lipid-rich biofilms. In this study, the antimycobacterial activity of one such agent, clofazimine, and its nanoparticle formulation, have been investigated against Mycobacterium smegmatis (M. smegmatis), as a surrogate for M. tuberculosis, by determining the bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities of the native (NC) and spray-dried (SDC) preparations of this agent on planktonic and biofilm populations, as well as their effects on biofilm formation and its lipid compositions, specifically free mycolic acid (FM) content. Both preparations were comparable, being bacteriostatic for rapidly-proliferating bacilli, bactericidal for slow-growing, biofilm-producing sessile bacteria, but ineffective against non-replicating, biofilm-encased M. smegmatis organisms. However, similar studies in M. tuberculosis are required.