Preliminary evaluation of the positively and negatively charge effects of tetra-substituted porphyrins on photoinactivation of rapidly growing mycobacteria.

This manuscript reports, at the first time, the photoinactivation evaluation of tetra-cationic and anionic porphyrins as photosensitizers (PS) for the photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of rapidly growing mycobacteria strains. Two different charged porphyrin groups were obtained commercially. PDI experiments in the strains Mycobacterium massiliense e Mycobacterium fortuitum conducted with adequate concentration (without aggregation) of photosensitizer under white light at a fluence rate of 50 mW/cm over 90 min showed that the most effective PS caused a 100 times reduction in the concentration of viable mycobacteria.