Abstract
BackgroundBacopa monnieri Linn. (Plantaginaceae), a well-known medicinal plant, is widely used in traditional medicine system. It has long been used in gastrointestinal discomfort, skin diseases, epilepsy and analgesia. This research investigated the in vitro antimicrobial activity of Bacopa monnieri leaf extract against Staphylococcus aureus and the interaction of possible compounds involved in this antimicrobial action.MethodsNon-edible plant parts were extracted with ethanol and evaporated in vacuo to obtain the crude extract. A zone of inhibition studies and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of plant extracts were evaluated against clinical isolates by the microbroth dilution method. Docking study was performed to analyze and identify the interactions of possible antimicrobial compounds of Bacopa monnieri in the active site of penicillin binding protein and DNA gyrase through GOLD 4.12 software.ResultsA zone of inhibition studies showed significant (p < 0.05) inhibition capacity of different concentrations of Bacopa monnieri’s extract against Staphylococcus aureus. The extract also displayed very remarkable minimum inhibitory concentrations (≥16 μg/ml) which was significant compared to that (≥75 μg/ml) of the reference antibiotic against the experimental strain Staphylococcus aureus. Docking studies recommended that luteolin, an existing phytochemical of Bacopa monnieri, has the highest fitness score and more specificity towards the DNA gyrase binding site rather than penicillin binding protein.ConclusionsBacopa monnieri extract and its compound luteolin have a significant antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Molecular binding interaction of an in silico data demonstrated that luteolin has more specificity towards the DNA gyrase binding site and could be a potent antimicrobial compound.
Highlights
Bacopa monnieri Linn. (Plantaginaceae), a well-known medicinal plant, is widely used in traditional medicine system
In vitro antimicrobial assay Results for the antibacterial activity of B. monnieri extract showed that the mean zone of inhibition (13.0-15.0 mm) produced by the extract was close to those produced by the reference antibiotics, i.e., tetracycline and ampicillin which had the zone of inhibitions between 16 to 20 mm
Docking studies are used at different stages of drug discovery such as to predict a ligand-receptor interaction and to rank the compounds based on the binding energies or fitness score [20]
Summary
Bacopa monnieri Linn. (Plantaginaceae), a well-known medicinal plant, is widely used in traditional medicine system. (Plantaginaceae), a well-known medicinal plant, is widely used in traditional medicine system. It has long been used in gastrointestinal discomfort, skin diseases, epilepsy and analgesia. Effective therapeutic options to combat Staphylococcus aureus infection are still limited. This makes a major burden to control Staphylococcus aureus [1]. The major problem in controlling the S. aureus infection is the occurrence of multi-drug resistance produced mainly due to the misuse of antibiotics. This is caused by the treatment of nonbacterial infections with antibiotics or inadequate compliance with the regulations for drug ingestion. Several studies have proposed that phytocompounds are the best alternative to develop therapies for multidrug resistant bacterial infections [6,7,8]
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