Activity of short lipopeptides and conventional antimicrobials against planktonic cells and biofilms formed by clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus.

Background: The therapy for staphylococcal skin diseases is facing several difficulties caused by the growth of biofilms and development of resistant strains. Short synthetic lipopeptides designed on the basis of antimicrobial peptide structure seem to provide an alternative to conventional therapy. The purpose of this study was to synthesize a group of lipopeptides and evaluate their antistaphylococcal activity against biofilms formed by clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus.
Results: The compounds exhibited a strong antibiofilm activity against all the isolates. The maturity of the biofilms has shown a well-defined influence on antimicrobial activity of conventional antimicrobials.
Discussion: Results showed that the lipopeptides were promising agents as the time of the culture did not greatly affect their activity.