Using nanoparticle optics assay for direct observation of the function of antimicrobial agents in single live bacterial cells

Multidrug resistance (MDR) has been reported in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, underscoring the challenge of design and screening of more efficacious new drugs. For instance, the efflux pump of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (gram-negative bacteria) can extrude a variety of structurally and functionally diverse substrates, which leads to MDR. In this study, we present a new platform that studies modes of action of antibiotics in living bacterial cells (P. aeruginosa), in real-time, at nanometer scale and single-cell resolution using nanoparticle optics and single living cell imaging. The color index of silver (Ag) nanoparticles (violet, blue, green, and red) is used as the sized index (30 +/- 10, 50 +/- 10, 70 +/- 10, and 90 +/- 10 nm) for real-time measurement of sized transformation of the cell wall and membrane permeability at the nanometer scale. We have demonstrated that the number of Ag nanoparticles accumulated in cells increases as the aztreonam (AZT) concentration increases and as incubation time increases, showing that AZT induces the sized transformation of membrane permeability and the disruption of the cell wall. The results demonstrate that nanoparticle optics assay can be used as a new powerful tool for real-time characterization of modes of action of antimicrobial agents in living cells at the nanometer scale. Furthermore, studies of mutants of WT bacteria (nalB-1 and DeltaABM), suggest that an efflux pump (MexA-MexB-OprM) effectively extrudes substrates (nanoparticles) out of the cells, indicating that the MDR mechanism involves the induction of changes in membrane permeability and the intrinsic pump machinery.