Antimicrobial characteristics of Berberine against prosthetic joint infection-related Staphylococcus aureus of different multi-locus sequence types

Abstract

Background Staphylococcal aureus (S. aureus) has become the leading causative pathogen of Prosthetic Joint Infection (PJI), which is the most devastating complication after arthroplasty surgeries. Due to the biofilm formation ability and emergence of multiple-drugs resistance strains of S. aureus , it has become an urgency to find new anti-staphylococcal agents to establish effective prophylaxis and treatment strategy for PJI. Extracted from a traditional Chinese herb, berberine is proved active in inhibiting S. aureus , while whether it exerts the same effect on PJI-related S. aureus remains unknown. This study aims to investigate the antimicrobial activity of berbrine against clinical derived PJI-related S. aureus and whether its inhibiting efficacy is associated with subtypes of S. aureus . Methods Eighteen PJI-associated S. aureus were collected and their Multi-locus Sequence Types (MLST) and susceptibility to berberine both in planktonic and biofilm form were investigated. Additionally, one S. aureus strain (ST1792) was selected from the group and its transcriptomic profiling in berberine incubation was performed. The statistical analyses were conducted using Student’s t-test with SPSS 24.0(SPSS, IBM, USA). The data were expressed as the means ± standard deviation. Values of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results It was found out that the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration values of PJI-related S. aureus varied in a broad range (from 64 to 512 μg/ml) among different MLST subtypes and the bacteria were able to regain growth after 24 h in berberine of MIC value or higher concentrations. In addition, sub-inhibitory concentrations of berberine surprisingly enhanced biofilm formation in some S. aureus strains. Conclusion Traditional medicine is utilised by a large number of individuals, which provides abundant resources for modern medical science. In our study, berberine was found bactericidal against PJI related S. aureus , however, its antibacterial property was impacted by the MLST subtypes of the bacteria, both in planktonic and biofilm growth forms.

The Combined Antibacterial Effects of Sodium New Houttuyfonate and Berberine Chloride against Growing and Persistent Methicillin-Resistant and Vancomycin-Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus

“…To maximize the relevance of our research to clinical situations, the clinical isolates covered almost all types of clinical infections, including samples from nasal colonization, superficial skin and soft tissue infection, and blood infection (Table S1). BBR showed poor antibacterial activity against S. aureus with MIC 90 at 512 ug/mL, which is consistent with previous studies and should be attributed to the thick cell wall of the pathogen and the rigid structure of berberine alkaloids [18,19]. Therefore, the combined use of compounds that increase membrane permeability (such as SNH) with BBR may increase the amount of the latter into bacterial cells and promote antibacterial activity.…”

“…Cortex and Coptis chinensis Franch and fully chemically synthesized now [14], has been widely used to treat bacterial diarrhea and gastroenteritis for many years in China [15,16]. Several studies have demonstrated the antibacterial activities of berberine alone or as a synergist of antibiotics [17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

The effect of berberine chloride and/or its combination with vancomycin on the growth, biofilm formation, and motility of Clostridioides difficile

“…Our research revealed that the MIC of berberine against C. difficile strains ranged from 256 to 1.024 mg/L. In contrast, Tan et al showed that the MIC values of berberine varied from 64 to 512 mg/L against Staphylococcus aureus [31]. Wang et al found that the MIC value of berberine for C. difficile spores was 640 mg/L [17].…”

Ethnomedicines of Indian origin for combating COVID-19 infection by hampering the viral replication: using structure-based drug discovery approach

“…Most importantly, it has been reported for antiviral activity against numerous viruses such as influenza virus (Wu et al, 2011), enterovirus 71 (Wang et al, 2017), human cytomegalovirus (Hayashi et al, 2007), hepatitis C virus (Hung et al, 2019), HSV-1 (Dkhil & Al-Quraishy, 2014) and chikungunya virus (Varghese et al, 2016). Besides, it has been proven to be an antibacterial agent against multiple drug resistance bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae (Chu et al, 2016;Peng et al, 2015;Tan et al, 2019;Yu et al, 2005) and antifungal agent against Candida spp. (Xie et al, 2020).…”