Synergistic inhibitory effect of honey and Lactobacillus plantarum on pathogenic bacteria and their promotion of healing in infected wounds

Abstract

The prevention and control of infection by resistant pathogens has become a formidable challenge due to the increasing resistance of pathogens to antibiotics, indicating the urgent need for new effective antimicrobial agents. Probiotic is a potential antibacterial drug that can address pathogenic infections. In this study, the antibacterial formulation consisting of honey and Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) was investigated the optimal antibacterial formulation, in vitro antibacterial effect and mechanism, as well as their effect on the healing of infected wounds in rat whole skin. The results of in vitro experiments showed that the optimal antibacterial formulation of honey and L. plantarum was: honey 10% + L. plantarum 1×109 CFU/mL. In vitro counts showed that the formulation inhibited more than 80% of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) after 24 h of action. In addition, live bacterial counts and growth curves indicate that L. plantarum used honey to promote its own growth and produce acids to inhibit the survival of pathogenic bacteria and biofilm formation(P < 0.001). Furthermore, in vivo results reviewed that the honey- L. plantarum formulation inhibited wound bacterial growth(P < 0.01) and increased wound epithelial granulation tissue formation to accelerate skin wound healing in a rat bacterial infection wound model. Overall, these findings suggest that the honey- L. plantarum formulation provides a new option for the treatment of pathogenic infections and wound healing, which sheds new light on the search for alternatives to antibiotics in the future.