Muting Bacterial Communication: Evaluation of Prazosin Anti-Quorum Sensing Activities against Gram-Negative Bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Proteus mirabilis , and Serratia marcescens .

Quorum sensing (QS) controls the production of several bacterial virulence factors. There is accumulative evidence to support that targeting QS can ensure a significant diminishing of bacterial virulence. Lessening bacterial virulence has been approved as an efficient strategy to overcome the development of antimicrobial resistance. The current study aimed to assess the anti-QS and anti-virulence activities of α-adrenoreceptor prazosin against three virulent Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonades aeruginosa , Proteus mirabilis , and Serratia marcescens . The evaluation of anti-QS was carried out on a series of in vitro experiments, while the anti-virulence activities of prazosin were tested in an in vivo animal model. The prazosin anti-QS activity was assessed on the production of QS-controlled Chromobacterium violaceum pigment violacein and the expression of QS-encoding genes in P. aeruginosa . In vitro tests were performed to evaluate the prazosin effects on biofilm formation and production of extracellular enzymes by P. aeruginosa , P. mirabilis , and S. marcescens . A protective assay was conducted to evaluate the in vivo anti-virulence activity of prazosin against P. aeruginosa , P. mirabilis , and S. marcescens . Moreover, precise in silico molecular docking was performed to test the prazosin affinity to different QS receptors. The results revealed that prazosin significantly decreased the production of violacein and the virulent enzymes, protease and hemolysins, in the tested strains. Prazosin significantly diminished biofilm formation in vitro and bacterial virulence in vivo. The prazosin anti-QS activity was proven by its downregulation of QS-encoding genes and its obvious binding affinity to QS receptors. In conclusion, prazosin could be considered an efficient anti-virulence agent to be used as an adjuvant to antibiotics, however, it requires further pharmacological evaluations prior to clinical application.