Abstract
BackgroundAntimicrobial resistance continues to be a global issue in healthcare organisations. Honey has long been shown to possess wound healing and antimicrobial properties that are dependent on a number of physical and chemical properties of the honey. We tested the antimicrobial activity of a medicinal honey, Surgihoney® (SH) and two prototype modified honeys made by Apis mellifera (honeybee) against Staphylococcus aureus (NCIMB 9518). We also examined the modified honey prototypes for the ability to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) by changing the level of production of hydrogen peroxide from the samples.MethodsSurgihoney® (SH) was compared with two modified honeys, Prototype 1 (PT1) and Prototype 2 (PT2) using a bioassay method against a standard strain of Staphylococcus aureus. Further work studied the rate of generation of ROS hydrogen peroxide from these preparations.ResultsSurgihoney® antimicrobial activity was shown to be largely due to ROS hydrogen peroxide production. By modification of Surgihoney®, two more potent honey prototypes were shown to generate between a two- and three-fold greater antibacterial activity and up to ten times greater ROS peroxide activity.ConclusionsSurgihoney® is a clinically available wound antiseptic dressing that shows good antimicrobial activity. Two further honey prototypes have been shown to have antimicrobial activity that is possible to be enhanced due to demonstrated increases in ROS peroxide activity.
Highlights
Antimicrobial resistance continues to be a global issue in healthcare organisations
We report here in-vitro results of testing a new biologically modified honey, Surgihoney®, that has been shown to have antimicrobial activity in-vitro and clinical effectiveness in the treatment of acute and chronic wounds and the prevention of surgical wound infections [13,14]
Activity rating The antimicrobial activity produced by the modification of the honey samples resulted in a two-fold and almost three-fold respectively increase in phenol activity with Prototype 1 (PT1) and Prototype 2 (PT2) compared with Surgihoney® alone
Summary
Antimicrobial resistance continues to be a global issue in healthcare organisations. Honey has long been shown to possess wound healing and antimicrobial properties that are dependent on a number of physical and chemical properties of the honey. We tested the antimicrobial activity of a medicinal honey, Surgihoney® (SH) and two prototype modified honeys made by Apis mellifera (honeybee) against Staphylococcus aureus (NCIMB 9518). We examined the modified honey prototypes for the ability to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) by changing the level of production of hydrogen peroxide from the samples. The development of effective non-toxic topical antimicrobial agents is being actively pursued [4]. The antimicrobial activity of honeys is thought to be due to the physical nature, pH and hyperosmolarity of the preparations and antimicrobial components of some honeys which include methylglyoxal, bee defensin-1 and hydrogen peroxide [7,8,9,10,11]. There have been no reports of any loss of antimicrobial activity of honeys due to the development of antimicrobial resistance [12]
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