Abstract
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has been causing numerous problems in the health care sector. This is mainly due to its ability to develop resistance to a number of antibiotics used to treat staphylococcal infections. Medicinal plants have been used to treat various ailments over the years and are generating a lot of interest as alternative treatment options. Naringenin is a plant derived flavonoid that possesses antibacterial properties, among others. This study assessed the effect of combinations of naringenin and four antibiotics against two Staphylococcus aureus strains. The minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined using the disk diffusion and broth microdilution assays. In the disk diffusion assay, naringenin did not inhibit bacterial growth, nor did it enhance the antibacterial activity of the antibiotics in the combination study. This was attributed to its slow rate of diffusion out of the disks. On the contrary, in the broth microdilution assay, naringenin exhibited additive effects when combined with the antibiotics (at sub-inhibitory concentrations). These results show the potential of naringenin as an antibacterial agent. Furthermore, the additive effects observed at low naringenin concentrations showed that it can potentially be used in combination with antibiotics against multidrug resistant bacteria. Key word: Staphylococcus aureus, MSSA, MRSA, antibiotics, flavonoids, disk diffusion assay, broth dilution assay, MIC
Highlights
Premature deaths from infectious diseases are a global problem (Ahmad and Beg, 2001)
In the disk diffusion assay, naringenin did not show any inhibitory activity against the S. aureus strains, neither did naringenin enhance the antibacterial activities of the antibiotics
The various antibiotic concentrations exhibited some antibacterial activity against the MSSA American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) 25923 strain
Summary
Premature deaths from infectious diseases are a global problem (Ahmad and Beg, 2001). As a result of the widespread overuse of antimicrobial agents to treat these infectious diseases, bacteria have developed ways to minimise the effects of antibiotics through evolutionary adaptations, leading to the emergence of antibiotic resistant pathogens (Fielding et al, 2012). Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is the leading cause of both nosocomial and community acquired infections (Lowy, 1998) and is often isolated from the bloodstream, skin and soft tissue infections (Bernards et al, 1998; Pfaller et al, 1999; Deresinski, 2005).
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