Preliminary investigation of antimicrobial activity of the skin secretions of frogs from Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract Amphibians, like some animals and plants, defend themselves against various pathogenic organisms by producing and secreting various peptides and small molecules from granular skin glands. In this study, we evaluated for the first time, the antibiotic activity of the skin secretions of 8 different frog species (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis, E. hexadactylus, Fejervarya teraiensis, F. asmati, F. syhadrensis, Hoplobatrachus tigerinus, Microhyla ornata and Polypedates leucomystax) from Bangladesh. These secretions were collected by a nonlethal approach through chemical stimulation and the antibacterial activity was evaluated by broth macrodilution method against some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Our study revealed that all the skin secretions (8 out of 8) from the selected frogs have antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria and 7 out of 8 skin secretions possess antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria tested. Further analysis of data showed that these secretions are significantly more effective against Gram-positive bacteria than Gram-negative bacteria.