In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Selected Palestinian Medicinal Plants against Chlamydia trachomatis

Ahmad Amro,Munir A Al-Zeer,Omar Hamarsheh

doi:10.3390/microbiolres12030047

Ahmad Amro, Munir A Al-Zeer + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/microbiolres12030047

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Abstract

Chlamydia spp. are intracellular pathogens of humans and animals that cause a wide range of diseases such as blinding trachoma and sexually transmitted infections. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 127 million new infections each year worldwide. Chlamydial urogenital infections can cause cervicitis, urethritis, pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. From within an intracellular niche, termed an inclusion, the Chlamydiae complete their life cycle shielded from host defenses. The host cell defense response used to eliminate the pathogen must subvert this protective shield and is thought to involve the gamma interferon-inducible family of immunity related GTPase proteins and nitric oxide. Typically, azithromycin and doxycycline are the first line drugs for the treatment of chlamydial infections. Although C. trachomatis is sensitive to these antibiotics in vitro, currently, there is increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics including multidrug-resistant C. trachomatis, which have been described in many instances. Therefore, alternative drug candidates against Chlamydia should be assessed in vitro. In this study, we tested and quantified the activity of plant extracts against Chlamydia-infected HeLa cells with C. trachomatis inclusions. The in vitro results show that post-treatment with Artemisia inculta Delile extract significantly inhibits Chlamydia infection compared to DMSO-treated samples. In conclusion, plant extracts may contain active ingredients with antichlamydial activity potential and can be used as alternative drug candidates for treatment of Chlamydia infection which has significant socio-economic and medical impact.

Highlights

Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular pathogenic bacterium associated with several important human diseases, such as trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness [1,2]
The present study aimed to evaluate in vitro anti-Chlamydia activities of natural plant extracts from certain medicinal plants from various regions in Palestine and evaluated the potential of crude plant extracts to inhibit Chlamydia growth and replication
Mock-treated cells infected with C. trachomatis served as a non-treated control (DMSO control)

Summary

Introduction

Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular pathogenic bacterium associated with several important human diseases, such as trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness [1,2]. It is currently the leading cause of eye disease in the world, causing blindness in approximately 1.9 million according to the WHO. In Palestine, there are no reports about chlamydia infection except a study in 2009 which was conducted among women attending gynecology and infertility centers in Gaza. C. trachomatis is the most common bacterium which causes sexually transmitted disease (STD) [1,2]. Chlamydial urogenital infections can cause a range of diseases such as cervicitis, urethritis, pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility [1,2,5].

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