The potential of natural products to act as antibiotic resistance breakers against drug-resistant strains of 'Escherichia coli' and Methicillin-resistant 'Staphylococcus aureus'

Drug-resistant bacteria are a major threat to global health. It is known that this is largely due to the widespread use of antibiotics, this has contributed to the emergence of many resistant bacterial strains such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and certain Escherichia coli (E. coli). This study looked at the potential of natural products to act in combination with penicillin to provide a breaker in the resistance activity against both MRSA and E. coli. In total 78 natural products were tested in three different states (fresh, frozen and freeze dried), in three different solvent namely, water, 20% methanol and 20% ethanol. The initial studies used a simple disc diffusion assay to test the natural product alone and in combination with the penicillin against the microbes. Natural products that demonstrated antimicrobial action either alone or in combination, where then examined to determine their minimal inhibitor concentration and final a checkboard assay was carried out. Of the original 78 products, between 50 to 60 of the natural products showed no activity at all depending on the states and extraction method. So, the most promising result were seen in both bacteria tested against three products namely, tulips, fuchsia and Jasmin. Jasmin and fuchsia were seen to work the best in combination with penicillin against MRSA, whereas tulips demonstrate inhibition against both bacteria on its own. In conclusion some of the natural product have demonstrated potential as either a new antibiotic or antibiotic breaker, however more evaluation is required to investigate the full potential