Allyl isothiocyanate from crucifers potentiates β-lactam activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Syed Sultan Beevi, Vikram Boddepalli, Lakshmi Narasu Mangamoori

Pdf Page Numbers :- 189-193

Syed Sultan Beevi^1,*, Vikram Boddepalli² and Lakshmi Narasu Mangamoori²

¹Department of Regenerative Medicine, KIMS Foundation and Research Center, Minister’s Road, Secunderabad-500 003, Telangana, India

²Centre for Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad – 500 072, Telangana, India

*Corresponding author: Dr. Syed Sultan Beevi, Ph.D., Department of Regenerative Medicine, KIMS Foundation and Research Center, Minister Road, Secunderabad-500 003, Telangana, India. Email: sayeedamaricar@gmail.com

Received 02 July 2014; Revised 11 September 2014; Accepted 18 September 2014

Citation: Sultan Beevi S, Vikram B, Lakshmi Narasu M. Allyl isothiocyanate from crucifers potentiates β-lactam activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. J Med Sci Res 2014; 2(4):189-193. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17727/JMSR.2014/2-033  

Copyright: © 2014 Sultan Beevi S, et al. Published by KIMS Foundation and Research Center. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Abstract

Introduction: Increasing prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) worldwide with limited therapeutic options is a growing public health concern. Isothiocyanates (ITCs) from crucifers have been shown to possess antibacterial actions against MRSA by antagonizing its resistance mechanisms. Allyl isothiocyanates (AITC) is the predominant isothiocyanates (ITC) of commonly consumed cruciferous vegetables such as brussels, mustard, cabbage, cauliflower and kale.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the potentiation effect of AITC on ampicillin and cefixime against clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using broth microdilution method and checkerboard methods. 

Results: AITC showed a promising antibacterial activity against a panel of clinical isolates of MRSA when used in alone. However, β-lactam antibiotics like ampicillin and cefixime had little or no activity against MRSA confirming their multi-drug resistance. When AITC combined with ampicillin and cefixime, MIC was reduced by ≥ 4 fold as compared to their monotherapy, evidencing a synergistic effect of AITC, as defined by a FICI of ≤0.5.

Conclusions: AITC showed promising synergistic and potentiation effect on ampicillin and cefixime at sub-MIC level against multi-drug resistant MRSA. This modulatory effect of AITC on β-lactam antibiotics could be useful as a synergistic therapeutic pair in combating MRSA infection in a hospital or community settings.

Keywords: Allyl isothiocyanate; Crucifers potentiates; β-lactam activity; Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus