Abstract
This study investigated antipathogenic efficacy of a polyherbal wound-healing formulation Herboheal against three multidrug-resistant strains of gram-negative bacterial pathogens associated with wound infections. Herboheal was evaluated for its quorum-modulatory potential against three different human-pathogenic bacteria, first in vitro through the broth dilution assay and then in vivo in the model host Caenorhabditis elegans. Herboheal at ≥0.1% v/v was able to inhibit (19–55%) in vitro production of quorum sensing-regulated pigments in all these bacteria and seemed to interfere with bacterial quorum sensing by acting as a signal-response inhibitor. This formulation could compromise haemolytic activity of all three bacteria by ∼18–69% and induced their catalase activity by ∼8–21%. Herboheal inhibited P. aeruginosa biofilm formation up to 40%, reduced surface hydrophobicity of P. aeruginosa cells by ∼9%, and also made them (25%) more susceptible to lysis by human serum. Antibiotic susceptibility of all three bacteria was modulated owing to pretreatment with Herboheal. Exposure of these test pathogens to Herboheal (≥0.025% v/v) effectively reduced their virulence towards the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Repeated subculturing of P. aeruginosa on the Herboheal-supplemented growth medium did not induce resistance to Herboheal in this mischievous pathogen, and this polyherbal extract was also found to exert a post-extract effect on P. aeruginosa, wherein virulence of the Herboheal-unexposed daughter cultures, of the Herboheal-exposed parent culture, was also found to be attenuated. Overall, this study indicates Herboheal formulation to be an effective antipathogenic preparation and validates its indicated traditional therapeutic use as a wound-care formulation.
Highlights
Wound refers to a form of physical injury where the skin is torn, cut, or burned, and it can serve as a site of entry for the pathogenic microbes
All the test concentrations were able to exert the inhibitory effect on C. violaceum growth as well as production of Quorum sensing Herboheal formulation (HF) (QS)-regulated pigment violacein, with latter getting affected more than the former (Figure 1(a))
Exogenous addition of the QS signal (AHL) to the quorum-inhibited culture of C. violaceum was not found to reverse the inhibitory effect of HF on violacein production (Figure 1(b)), which suggests HF to act as a signal-response inhibitor of the QS machinery of this bacterium
Summary
Wound refers to a form of physical injury where the skin is torn, cut, or burned, and it can serve as a site of entry for the pathogenic microbes. A wound always carries the probability of serving as an entry port for microorganisms, some of whom can complicate the situation further by their biofilm-forming ability. For effective and rapid healing of a wound, preventing infection in it is essential [2]. Advanced wound care is a big market globally, and many of the leading pharmaceutical firms are actively engaged in this area [3]. Traditional medicines from different geographic locations prescribe a variety of wound-healing formulations, many of which are based on plant extracts and/or oils. A search for plants useful in wound care in the IMPPAT database returns 40 plants
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