Growth-inhibitory effects of Galla Rhois-derived tannins on intestinal bacteria

Abstract

The growth‐inhibitory activity of Galla Rhois‐derived materials towards 17 intestinal bacteria was evaluated using an impregnated paper disc method. The biologically active components of Galla Rhois were characterized as the tannins methyl gallate (MG) and gallic acid (GA) by spectral analysis. The growth responses varied with bacterial strain tested. In the test using 10 mg disc−1, MG and GA produced a clear inhibitory effect on harmful bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens, Cl. paraputrificum, Eubacterium limosum, Bacteroides fragilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Methyl gallate showed no growth‐inhibitory activity towards Bifidobacterium adolescentis or B. longum whereas the growth of B. bifidum, B. breve, B. infantis, B. animalis, B. thermophilum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lact. plantarum and Streptococcus faecalis was slightly affected. However, GA did not adversely affect the growth of the bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. At 5 mg disc−1, MG significantly inhibited the growth of Cl. perfringens and Cl. paraputrificum but did not affect the growth of the bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. At 1 mg disc−1, MG greatly inhibited the growth of Cl. perfringens alone. These results may be an indication of at least one of the pharmacological actions of Galla Rhois.

Influence of gallic acid and catechin polyphenols on probiotic properties of Streptococcus thermophilus CHCC 3534 strain

“…S. thermophilus cells were more sensitive to low concentrations of catechin than gallic acid, due to high degree of hydroxylation in catechin molecules (Puupponen-Pimiä et al 2005), in addition to its higher antioxidant capacity (Duda-Chodak et al 2008), which increases its antimicrobial activity. Our data agreed with those of Ahn et al (1998), that growth of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli were not adversely affected by gallic acid compared to other polyphenols, but were inconsistent with a recent report by Landete et al (2007) where flavonols (including catechin) had lower or similar antibacterial activity to phenolic acids. Total phenolic consumption in presence of 0.8% gallic acid or 0.3% catechin were estimated to be 36 ± 3.2 and 17 ± 2.5%, respectively under similar growth conditions, and were lower than those estimated by other workers (Alberto et al 2001).…”

Inhibitory effect of methyl gallate and gallic acid on oral bacteria

“…Several authors have reported the antimicrobial effects of Galla Rhois extracts and Galla Rhois-derived tannins. (Ahn et al, 1994;Ahn et al, 1998;Bae et al, 1998). However, there are few reports of the effects of gallotannins on dental biofilms and oral pathogens.…”

Involvement of heme oxygenase-1 induction in inhibitory effect of ethyl gallate isolated from Galla Rhois on nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 macrophages

“…Galla Rhois has been used for the treatment of various diseases, including skin disease, diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhage, and leucorrhea (Zhu, 1998) and it has been shown that Galla Rhois and its components possess various biological activities, including antibacterial (Ahn et al, 1998), antimetastatic/anti-invasion (Ata et al, 1996), and protective effect on liver cells from apoptosis and necrosis (Park et al, 2008). Further, recent studies have shown that Galla Rhois inhibits the production of inflammatory cytokines in mast cells and gallates inhibit cytokine-induced nuclear translocation of NF-kappa B and expression of leukocyte adhesion molecules in vascular endothelial cells (Murase et al, 1999).…”