Potent in vitro synergism of fusidic acid (FA) and berberine chloride (BBR) against clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Abstract

It was found in the present study that combined use of fusidic acid (FA) and berberine chloride (BBR) offered an in vitro synergistic action against 7 of the 30 clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains, with a fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index ranging from 0.5 to 0.19. This synergistic effect was most pronounced on MRSA 4806, an FA-resistant isolate, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 1,024 μg/ml. The time-kill curve experiment showed that FA plus BBR yielded a 4.2 log10 c.f.u./ml reduction in the number of MRSA 4806 bacteria after 24-h incubation as compared with BBR alone. Viable count analysis showed that FA plus BBR produced a 3.0 log10 c.f.u./ml decrease in biofilm formation and a 1.5 log10 c.f.u./ml decrease in mature biofilm in viable cell density as compared with BBR alone. In addition, phase contrast micrographs confirmed that biofilm formation was significantly inhibited and mature biofilm was obviously destructed when FA was used in combination with BBR. These results provide evidence that combined use of FA and BBR may prove to be a promising clinical therapeutic strategy against MRSA.

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

“…The most significant synergistic effects towards CoNS strains were noted when berberine was combined with linezolid, cefoxitin, and erythromycin [33]. In another study, the combined use of fusidic acid (FA) and berberine chloride (BBR) was found to result in an in vitro synergistic action against 7 out of 30 clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains [34]. In the present study, we examined the sub-MICs of berberine and sub-MICs of vancomycin for biofilm formation in C. difficile strains.…”

Role of Berberine in the Treatment of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections

“…In traditional medicine, berberine has been widely used to treat bacterial diarrhea and gastroenteritis for a long history. Recently, berberine was demonstrated as a strong synergist for many commonly used antibiotics against clinical multi-drug resistant isolates of MRSA 8 9 10 . It is noted that sub-MICs of berberine exhibited significant synergistic effects on four conventional antimicrobial agents, including ampicillin (AMP), azithromycin (AZM), cefazolin (CFZ), and LEV 9 .…”

“…Recently, berberine has been demonstrated to be a strong synergist for antibiotics 5 6 . Synergistic interactions between berberine and commonly used antimicrobial agents exhibit therapeutic benefits against a broad spectrum of pathogenic microorganisms, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) 7 8 9 10 . Many reports have shown that combined use of berberine improved the bactericidal activity of antibiotics against MRSA, lower the MICs of antibiotics, and notably decreased adhesion and intracellular invasion of MRSA 8 9 10 .…”

Self-assembled filomicelles prepared from polylactide-poly(ethylene glycol) diblock copolymers for sustained delivery of cycloprotoberberine derivatives

“…It’s an isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from the rhizome, roots and stem bark of a number of Chinese herbs of Berberis species (Godugu et al, 2014, Ning et al, 2009). BBR presents various pharmacological activities such as antibacterial, antioxidant, cholesterol-lowering, and anti-inflammatory activities (Liang et al, 2014, Riccardi et al, 2001, Li et al, 2014, Kong et al, 2004, Choi et al, 2006). It also exhibits anticancer effects in a variety of cancer cells including glioblastoma, hepatoma, melanoma, colon, breast, prostate, oral, colorectal, lung, leukemia, and osteosarcoma (OGuamán Ortiz et al, 2014).…”