Green Tea Polyphenol Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate-Stearate Enhance The Antimicrobial Effect Of Antibiotics In Three Of Eskape Pathogens

The main cause of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are the ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species). They are multidrug-resistant isolates pathogens, regarded as one of the greatest challenges in clinical practice and is considered as a threat to health worldwide, caused by the prescription of antimicrobial drugs which lead to its vehement and inadequate use making the bacteria isolates resistant to multiple drugs. The mechanisms of resistance to antimicrobial drugs could be ascribed to several categories that encompass transformation in cell permeability resulting in reduced intracellular drug accumulation, activation or a possible alteration of the drug as well as alteration of drug binding sites. Due to the evident haste to create new treatments to combat the challenge of decreasing the high rates of HAI and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one promising approach could potentially overcome this problem is the use of alternative herbal treatment. Green tea, a beverage derived from the plant Camellia Sinensis, has a common compound called Polyphenols that could potentially provide a novel solution to this challenge. It is known for being a potent antioxidant with anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects; as well as having remarkable antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral activity. The specific polyphenolic compound involved in these benefits is a derivative of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) known as Epigallocatechin-3-gallate stearate (EGCG-S), which was used throughout this study. The objective of this research is to evaluate the possible synergistic effect and the impact EGCG-S has on the inhibition of three ESKAPE organisms on their growth and proliferation. Colony forming units (CFU) and Disk diffusion test were used to evaluate the effect of EGCG-S on bacterial growth and proliferation alone and in combination with antibiotics on the three ESKAPE bacterias (Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species). A total of 6 antibiotics were used with the aim of profiling the effectiveness of these antibiotics with and without EGCG-S, obtaining very varied results depending on the bacteria, indicating that EGCG-S can synergistically enhance some of the antibiotics and convert it from resistant to sensitive. The growth of the bacteria was also monitored with or without EGCG-S, the results indicated that 250ug/ml and 500 ug/ml was able to inhibit the growth of the bacteria. Biofilm study using Crystal Violet Assay was performed to quantitatively determine how much biofilm was inhibited by the different treatments of EGCG-S, and the results suggested that higher concentration of EGCG-S (500 ug/ml) was able to show effect.