Investigating the antimicrobial activity of berberine against Staphylococcus aureus

Researchers from China looked at the anti-staphylococcal activities of berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid derived from the traditional Chinese medicinal herb, Coptis chinensis, and evaluated its potential to treat prosthetic joint infection (PJI). Their findings were published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

• Researchers collected 18 PJI-associated strains of S. aureus and identified their Multi-Locus Sequence Types (MLST).
• They assigned a series letter from A to R to each strain and cultured them in Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB) medium with 20 percent glycerol at -90 C.
• They then subjected the TSB cultures to biofilm assay:
  • Berberine was added to the bacterial cultures.
  • The resulting biofilm was stained with crystal violet for 15 minutes, then rinsed with phosphate buffered saline.
  • 95 percent ethanol was added after drying, then plates were shaken for 1 hour to release the stain.
  • The absorbance of the biofilm was measured at 600 nm three times.
• The researchers also conducted growth kinetics test by adding suspensions of 100 microliter bacterial cultures in TSB to 100 microliters of serially diluted berberine.
  • Bacterial growth was evaluated by measuring the optical density of cultures at a 600-nanometer wavelength using a microplate reader.
• The researchers noted that berberine’s Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values against PJI-related Staphylococcus aureus varied among MLST subtypes.
  • While berberine was shown to inhibit bacterial growth within the first 12 hours, some bacteria were able to regain growth after 24 hours in berberine.

The researchers concluded that berberine has bactericidal activities against PJI-related strains of S. aureus. However, berberine’s efficacy depends on the bacterial strain.

Follow NaturalAntibiotics.news for more studies on natural medicines against S. aureus infections.

Journal Reference:

Tan J, Wang J, Yang C, Zhu C, Guo G, Tang J. ANTIMICROBIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BERBERINE AGAINST PROSTHETIC JOINT INFECTION-RELATED STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS OF DIFFERENT MULTI-LOCUS SEQUENCE TYPES. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2019;19,(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12906-019-2558-9