New natural product suppresses antibiotic-resistant bacteria – naturopathy & naturopathic specialist portal

Brazilian pepper tree against increasing antibiotic resistance?

Specific compounds have been identified in the Brazilian pepper tree that reduce the virulence of antibiotic-resistant staphylococcal bacteria. So-called triterpenoid acids in the berries of the plant block the production of toxins.

A recent joint study by the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Emory University found that the Brazilian pepper tree (Schinus terebinthifolia) appears to reduce the virulence of antibiotic-resistant staphylococcal bacteria. The results of the study were published in the scientific reports published in English.

Natural product to fight MRSA

The study provides the first evidence that so-called triterpenoid acids could be used to fight methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA.

What is the Brazilian pepper tree?

The Brazilian pepper tree (Schinus terebinthifolia) is normally native to South America. The crop is now also common in Florida, where it displaces native species of plants. Even though the pepper tree is often viewed as an uninvited guest, there are also many stories about the plant from the Amazon region, where traditional healers have been using it for centuries to treat skin and soft tissue infections.

How widespread is antibiotic resistance?

The ever-increasing resistance to antibiotics is considered one of the greatest challenges for the public health system of our time. According to the Robert Koch Institute, a study on the burden of disease by multidrug-resistant pathogens (MRE) for Europe was published in 2018, which was carried out by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). According to the researchers’ projections, around 670,000 people in Europe contract MRE infections every year. In Germany there are about 54,500 people a year.

Antibiotic resistance in times of COVID-19

The topic of antibiotic resistance should not be forgotten during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Many COVID-19 patients are given antibiotics to cope with secondary infections, which is causing concern about a later increase in antibiotic-resistant infections, the researchers report.

The formation of skin lesions could be alleviated by Pfefferbaum

In 2017, a flavon-rich mixture of 27 compounds derived from the berries of the Brazilian pepper tree was found to inhibit the formation of skin lesions in mice infected with MRSA. The extract does not work by killing the MRSA bacteria, but by suppressing a gene that enables the bacterial cells to communicate with each other.

Blocking communication prevents the release of toxins

Blocking this communication prevents cells from taking collective action. This essentially prevents the bacteria from excreting toxins with which they damage the tissue. The body’s immune system then has a better chance of healing existing wounds, the research group explains.

This is how resistant super-pathogens can develop

This approach differs from the typical treatment of killing bacteria with medication. This can help exacerbate the problem of antibiotic resistance. Some of the stronger bacteria survive this drug treatment and multiply, pass on their genes to the offspring and lead to the development of so-called deadly super bacteria.

27 connections were analyzed in detail

For their investigation, the researchers wanted to narrow down the scope of the 27 most important berry compounds to isolate the specific substances that are involved in the disarming of MRSA. They carefully refined the original compounds and tested each new iteration for their effectiveness on the bacteria. Various techniques have also been used to get a clear picture of the substances involved in the anti-virulence mechanism.

Three triterpenoid acids played an important role

The results of the investigation showed that three triterpenoid acids could reliably inhibit the formation of toxins by MRSA in a Petri dish without damaging human skin cells. One of the triterpenoid acids worked particularly well in inhibiting the ability of MRSA to form lesions on the skin of mice. It was also shown that triterpenoid acids suppressed not only one gene that MRSA uses to excrete toxins, but also two genes that are involved in this process.

Why invasive wild plants are so interesting for research

Wild herbs and wild plants in particular, which spread rapidly and displace other species, tend to have interesting chemical arsenals with which they can protect themselves from diseases so that they can spread more easily in new environments, the researchers report.

Further research is planned

The team is already planning further studies to test triterpenoid acids as treatment methods for MRSA infections in animal models. If these investigations are promising, the next step would be to optimize the compounds for efficacy, administration and safety before they can then be tested on humans.

Why it is so difficult to isolate extracts from plants

“Plants are so incredibly complex chemically that identifying and isolating certain extracts is like picking needles out of a haystack,” study author Professor Cassandra Quave of Emory University said in a press release. If you were able to filter out molecules with medicinal properties from these complex natural mixtures, it would be a great step forward in understanding the mode of action of some traditional drugs and advancing science towards a possible pathway for drug development, the expert adds. (as)