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Review
. 2022 Mar 23:13:846959.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.846959. eCollection 2022.

Gold-Derived Molecules as New Antimicrobial Agents

Carlos Ratia  1 , Raquel G Soengas  2 , Sara M Soto  1
Affiliations
Review

Gold-Derived Molecules as New Antimicrobial Agents

Carlos Ratia et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is considered one of the three most important health problems by the World Health Organization. The emergence and spread of an increasing number of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms make this a worldwide problem. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are estimated to be the cause of 33,000 deaths in Europe and 700,000 worldwide each year. It is estimated that in 2050 bacterial infections will cause 10 million deaths across the globe. This problem is concomitant with a decrease in the investment and, therefore, the discovery and marketing of new antibiotics. Recently, there have been tremendous efforts to find new effective antimicrobial agents. Gold complexes, with their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities and unique modes of action, are particularly relevant among several families of derivatives that have been investigated. This mini review revises the role of gold-derived molecules as antibacterial agents.

Keywords: antibacterial; gold(I) complexes; gold(III) complexes; mechanism of action; toxicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Most representative gold(I) complexes with antimicrobial activity.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Control P. aeruginosa cells (A) and cells treated with complex 16 (B). Reproduced from Samanta et al. (2013) (CC BY-NC 4.0).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Most representative gold(III) complexes with antimicrobial activity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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