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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

CSA-13, antibiotic lock technique, hemodialysis catheters

College

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Abstract

The projects that I have worked on this past year have been focused on a novel group of antibiotics developed Dr. Savage’s lab. The antibiotics, called ceragenins or cationic steroid antibiotics (CSA’s), are molecules synthesized from cholic acid and mimic the structure and functionality of antimicrobial peptides found in nature. Although the CSA’s are much smaller than the peptides, they have similar structural aspects, a hydrophobic side as well as a cationic side, and are believed to have a similar mechanism of action. They, like the antimicrobial peptides, have been found to be effective against a broad spectrum of bacteria, Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative, but at much lower concentrations than the peptides.1 They have been found to be effective against many strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,2 and some of the compounds have also been found to be active against membrane-enclosed viruses, including HIV and herpes.

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