Abstract
With the spread of bacterial resistance against clinically used antibiotics, natural plant-derived products are being studied as new sources of antibacterial molecules. Manilkara zapota is a common plant species in the American continent that is used as a food source. Studies show the M. zapota extract is rich in phenolic substances that can serve as basic molecules for the pharmaceutical industry. An extract from fresh M. zapota leaves was produced and tested to identify the compounds present, as well as its direct antibacterial and clinical antibiotic modulatory activities. To analyze the results, a new statistical methodology based on the Shannon-Wiener index was tested, capable of correcting distortions in heterogeneous environments. The Hydroethanolic Extract of Manilkara zapota leaves (HEMzL) presented a wide variety of phenolic products, as well as tannins, in the UPLC analysis. The extract showed direct antibacterial activity against the standard Staphylococcus aureus strain, however, it either acted antagonistically when associated with the tested antibiotics, or it did not present statistical significance when compared to the control. This demonstrates a need to be cautious when associating natural products with antibiotics for clinical use, as a hindrance to infectious treatments may occur. As for the statistical analysis mechanism tested, this proved to be effective, reducing false negatives at low antibiotic concentrations and false positives at high concentrations in the microdilution plate.
Highlights
Bacterial resistance to clinically used antibiotics and its dissemination across the globe has become a worldwide concern [1]
UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS analysis With the data obtained through mass spectrometry, comparisons were made between the fragments and the specialized literature, looking for patterns of compounds, initially between extracts of plants of the same species, later within the genus and comparing with analyzes of extracts of plants of the Manilkara zapota family. 10 compounds were identified from the 17 peaks present in the chromatogram of figure 1
Flavonoids are compounds with anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetogenic activity, which act by modifying cellular insulin resistance [24] and/or reducing carbohydrate absorption, where compounds from this class are used in their isolated form, as well as in plant extracts [25]
Summary
Bacterial resistance to clinically used antibiotics and its dissemination across the globe has become a worldwide concern [1]. An extract from fresh M. zapota leaves was produced and tested to identify the compounds present, as well as its direct antibacterial and clinical antibiotic modulatory activities. The extract showed direct antibacterial activity against the standard Staphylococcus aureus strain, it either acted antagonistically when associated with the tested antibiotics, or it did not present statistical significance when compared to the control.
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