Exploring the Potentials of Quercetin and Kaempferol combinations along with Regular Antibiotics for the Effective Management of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Abstract

The methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium that offers the challenge to numerous antibiotics which leads to a variety of problems, ranging from skin infections and sepsis to pneumonia. The natural products based management somewhat opened hope towards the betterment of the present era where the combination with currently available medicines has been studied clinically. Antibiotics (cefixime, ceftriaxone, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, cephradine, methicillin, ampicillin, levofloxacin, and amoxicillin) and flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol, and the combination of quercetin + kaempferol) were evaluated against clinically isolated MRSA. The results showed that the following antibiotics; cefixime, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, cephradine, methicillin, ampicillin, and amoxicillin were inactive against clinical isolated MRSA when tested alone. But when these antibiotics were combined with quercetin, kaempferol, and both quercetin + kaempferol, they all demonstrated a valuable anti-MRSA activity. In contrast, when these flavonoids were tested with erythromycin, it was found to have no critical impact over the bactericidal property of erythromycin. Interestingly, the combination of flavonoids with levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin resulted in a drastic fall in the anti-MRSA activity. The flavonoids; quercetin and kaempferol in combination with the regular antibiotics expressed remarkable activity against clinical isolated MRSA strain. Few general antibiotics (cefixime, ceftriaxone, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, cephradine, methicillin, ampicillin, levofloxacin, and amoxicillin) which remained non-responsive against the strain, at present, demonstrated potential anti-bacterial activity against MRSA with a quite impressive MIC value. Therefore, the current research will surely inspire biologists and clinicians and concurrently open new avenues of application of natural agents like flavonoids in the mainline anti-infective therapy in the near future.

Keywords: Antibiotic, flavonoid, kaempferol, MRSA, quercetin, Staphylococcus aureus

Cite this Article

Om Prakash, Ruchi Singh, Namrata Singh et al. Exploring the Potentials of Quercetin and Kaempferol combinations along with Regular Antibiotics for the Effective Management of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Research & Reviews: A Journal of Microbiology and Virology. 2018; 8(3):     6–9p