Abstract
A classical ayurvedic polyherbal formulation namely Triphala was assessed for its anti-pathogenic potential against five different pathogenic bacteria. Virulence of four of them towards the model host Caenorhabditis elegans was attenuated (by 18-45%) owing to pre-treatment with Triphala (≤20 µg/ml). Triphala could also exert significant therapeutic effect on worms already infected with Chromobacterium violaceum, Serratia marcescens or Staphylococcus aureus. Prophylactic use of Triphala allowed worms to score 14-41% better survival in face of subsequent pathogen challenge. Repeated exposure to this formulation induced resistance in S. marcescens, but not in P. aeruginosa. It also exerted a post-extract effect (PEE) on three of the test pathogens. Triphala was able to modulate production of quorum sensing (QS)-regulated pigments in three of the multidrug-resistant gram-negative test bacteria. Haemolytic activity of S. aureus was heavily inhibited under the influence of this formulation. P. aeruginosa's lysozyme-susceptibility was found to increase by ~25-43% upon Triphala-pretreatment. These results validate therapeutic potential of one of the most widely used polyherbal ayurvedic formulations called Triphala.
Highlights
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are among the most serious public-health threats
When all the five pathogens were pretreated with Triphala (0.5-100 μg/ml) before being allowed to attack C.elegans, Triphala formulation (TF) was able to attenuate virulence of all test pathogens except S. pyogenes at ≤20 μg/ml [Figure 1; underlying data (Patel et al, 2019c)]
Worms challenged with TF-treated pathogens demonstrated 18–45.50% better survival than those challenged with TF-unexposed pathogens
Summary
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are among the most serious public-health threats. Since the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is shrinking the utility spectrum of conventional bactericidal antibiotics, there is an urgent need for discovery and development of novel anti-virulence formulations. Traditional Medicine (TM) systems like Ayurveda offer several sophisticated formulations for a variety of disease conditions. One such classical ayurvedic formulation with a long history of safe use is Triphala. Though many popular formulations like Triphala have been used historically in TM and as a household remedy, their validation through modern scientific methods is necessary for their wider acceptance in modern medicine (Kothari, 2018). This study aimed to investigate the anti-pathogenic efficacy of Triphala against five different pathogenic bacteria
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