Date of Award

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School

College of Science and Mathematics

Department/Program

Biology

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Lee H. Lee

Committee Member

Sandra Adams

Committee Member

Charles Du

Abstract

The field of medical microbiology has prospered for decades, finding treatments and cures for a multitude of bacterial infections. While success has been found in certain areas, challenges have arisen along the way. One of those challenges being the group of bacteria known as ESKAPE. The ESKAPE bacteria (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) have developed their multidrug resistance through adaptation to excessive drug use or prescription, unnecessary antimicrobial utilization, and substandard pharmaceuticals. They are the major cause of nosocomial infections throughout the world. With the ever-growing concern of antibiotic resistance in treating bacterial infections, search for novel alternative therapy is essential. Green tea polyphenols in herbal plant Camellia sinensis has been found to have antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the main polyphenol responsible for these characteristics. Unfortunately, EGCG is not stable in its natural form and so epigallocatechin-3-gallate-sterate (EGCG-S) and palmitoyl-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (P-EGCG) were created to stabilize the polyphenol. EGCG-S was used to study its inhibitory effect on ESKAPE bacteria. Colony forming unit assay (CFU) was used to determine the % of inhibition and log reduction of EGCG-S treatment. Congo red qualitative assay and Crystal Violet quantitative assay were used to study its effect on bacterial biofilm formation. The organic formulation cF1 and cF2 containing palmitoyl-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (P-EGCG) was also used to evaluate their antibacterial effect. LIVE/DEAD Bactlight TM Bacterial Viability test was conducted to determine the efficiency of the treatments via fluorescent microscope. Studies conducted showed that EGCG-S have a positive effect on the inhibition of these bacteria and their biofilm. The formulations can efficiently inhibit the growth of the bacteria, cF1 and cF2 can inhibit the growth of ESKAPE at nearly a 100%. EGCG-S has potential to be an alternative treatment method that can work alone or in combination with antibiotics. Formulations cF1 and cF2 can be effective antibacterial agents against ESKAPE bacteria

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