Essential Oils: A Novel Approach for Anti-Microbial Therapy

Abstract

: Overexploitation of antibiotics has led to significant challenges with antimicrobial resistance. The gravity of this trend has resulted in the rapid emergence of multi-resistant pathogens. Increased frequency to treat infections and the unfeasibility to reverse this resistance have burdened researchers in developing novel mechanisms to counteract and obstruct antimicrobial resistance. An effective medical strategy to control resistance was to develop new and potent antibiotics although, a sobering reality is that the product pipeline towards new antibiotics is inadequate. To ensure continued effective treatment of bacterial infections, there is an urgent need to control as well as conserve existing antibiotics through novel approaches. Utilization of Essential Oils (EO) in a multi-target anti-infective therapy addresses this need by targeting the mechanism of bacterial resistance and discovering synergism between EO’s antimicrobial properties to anti-infectives. When introduced into a pharmaceutical formulation, this novel and rational approach will open the door towards the development of a new generation of antimicrobials. Today, several essential oils have the ability to act as resistant modifying agents and enhance the antimicrobial activity of anti-infectives. This review article intends to focus on the effectiveness of essential oils on drug-resistant pathogens, mechanisms to counteract antimicrobial resistance, approaches to enhance efficacy, and explore potential applications.

Recent Advances in Polypeptide Antibiotics Derived from Marine Microorganisms

“…Antimicrobial agents come from a variety of sources, such as microbes, insects, plants, fishes, mollusks, etc. [20][21][22][23][24]. Recently, the discovery of cyclic peptide antibiotics derived from microorganisms has become a new research hotspot, attracting the attention of many researchers.…”

The Combination of Amoxicillin and 1,8-Cineole Improves the Bioavailability and the Therapeutic Effect of Amoxicillin in a Rabbit Model

“…Thus, the search for an alternative strategy with greater efficacy is an urgent medical need. Several studies have investigated the use of antibiotics in combination with major essential oil (EO) compounds [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. They have revealed that this approach could be efficiently used in therapy to overcome any resistance to antibiotics.…”

“…They have revealed that this approach could be efficiently used in therapy to overcome any resistance to antibiotics. Nowadays, some researchers reported that essential oils have the capacity to act as resistance modifying agents and thereby enhance the efficacy of antibiotics [ 20 ]. Based on these facts and on our previous studies [ 16 , 21 ] of the combination of AMX with 1,8-cineole EO, a major compound used to combat ESBL bacterial resistance, we have conducted an in vivo experiment to study the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of AMX combined with 1,8-cineole using a rabbit model.…”