Antimicrobial preservative effectiveness of natural peptide antibiotics.

The constantly growing resistance of microbes to drugs and other substances which fight microbial infections leads to search for new antimicrobial substances. Among substances which attract the scientists attention are antimicrobial peptides. Such compounds are quite common in nature and belong to the most important elements of the innate immune system of all living organisms. Numerous antimicrobial peptides have been isolated from insects, amphibians, mammals, plants and bacterial species. In this study we investigated the in vitro activity of two animal peptides, citropin 1.1 and protegrin 1 alone and in combination against microbial strains proposed for the evaluation of preservatives: Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, Candida albicans ATCC 10231, and Aspergillus niger ATCC 16404. The results of the antimicrobial preservative effectiveness were compared to the values received for benzalkonium chloride, popular preservative of medicines and cosmetics.