Natural products and polysorbates: Potential Inhibitors of biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Authors

  • Mariam Miari Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • Sari S Rasheed Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • Nathaline Haidar Ahmad Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • Dana Itani Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • Antoine Abou Fayad Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • Ghassan M Matar Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.11834

Keywords:

biofilm inhibition, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, exopolysaccharides, quorum sensing, gene expression

Abstract

Introduction: With all the challenges super bugs are imposing, biofilm formation opens the door against various more complicated challenges. Such issue may be highlighted with the ability of the latter to render the antibiotics hardly accessible to bacterial cells and sheds the light on the importance of finding antibiofilm formers. Therefore, we assessed the inhibitory effect of natural product extracts (ginger, wild blueberry) and polysorbates (PS20, PS80) on biofilm formation at the molecular level.

Methodology: Growth inhibition assay was performed to test the effect of ginger (Zingiber Officinale), wild blueberry (Vaccinium Angustifolium), and polysorbates on Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PAN14) growth. Transcription levels of biofilm exopolysaccharides encoding genes (ndvB, pelC, algC) and quorum sensing genes (lasI, lasR, rhlI, rhlR) for LasI/LasR and RhlI/ RhlR systems were evaluated by RT qPCR.

Results: The polysorbates and the extracts of both ginger and wild blueberry had no effect on the growth of P. aeruginosa. Biofilms’ examination has unraveled the effectiveness of treatments used in reducing its formation. Moreover, a significant reduction in the expression of all genes tested for biofilm exopolysaccharides and its quorum sensing system was observed.

Conclusion: The decrease in the relative gene expression of the exopolysaccharides and quorum sensing encoding genes sheds the light on the mechanism of action of ginger and wild blueberry’s constituents as well as polysorbates 20 and 80 on P. aeruginosa biofilm formation. Future studies need to assess the antibiofilm effect of each fraction of herbal extracts separately.

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Published

2020-06-30

How to Cite

1.
Miari M, Rasheed SS, Haidar Ahmad N, Itani D, Abou Fayad A, Matar GM (2020) Natural products and polysorbates: Potential Inhibitors of biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J Infect Dev Ctries 14:580–588. doi: 10.3855/jidc.11834

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Original Articles