Antibacterial Activity of Lemon IntegroPectin Against Escherichia coli

Lemon IntegroPectin sourced via hydrodynamic cavitation of lemon industrial processing waste in water only shows high antibacterial activity against Gram-negative Escherichia coli. Insight on the antibacterial mechanism gained by investigating the oxidation kinetics of the phytocomplex at 0.5 mg/mL concentration in contact with the bacteria indicates that the oxidative stress, measured by reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced at the bacterial surface, is significantly higher than that generated by H2O2 0.5 M. Given the nontoxic and mitoprotective nature of this bioconjugate sustainably extracted from an abundant biological resource, these findings are promising toward a new antimicrobial treatment against polymicrobial infections unlikely to develop drug resistance.