Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Enriched Honey Has Enhanced Bactericidal Activity Against MRSA

Medical-Grade Honey Enriched with Antimicrobial Peptides has Enhanced Activity Against Antibiotic-Resistant Pathogens Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis, 2010 Oct 7

Honey has potent activity against both antibiotic-sensitive and -resistant bacteria, and is an interesting agent for topical antimicrobial application to wounds. As honey is diluted by wound exudate, rapid bactericidal activity up to high dilution is a prerequisite for its successful application.

We investigated the kinetics of the killing of antibiotic-resistant bacteria by RS honey, the source for the production of Revamil® medical-grade honey, and we aimed to enhance the rapid bactericidal activity of RS honey by enrichment with its endogenous compounds or the addition of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs).

RS honey killed antibiotic-resistant isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterococcus faecium, and Burkholderia cepacia within 2 h, but lacked such rapid activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli.

It was not feasible to enhance the rapid activity of RS honey by enrichment with endogenous compounds, but RS honey enriched with 75 μM of the synthetic peptide Bactericidal Peptide 2 (BP2) showed rapid bactericidal activity against all species tested, including MRSA and ESBL E. coli, at up to 10-20-fold dilution. RS honey enriched with BP2 rapidly killed all bacteria tested and had a broader spectrum of bactericidal activity than either BP2 or honey alone...

In summary, we were able to enhance the bactericidal activity of honey by enrichment with the AMP BP2. BP2-enriched RS honey had rapid bactericidal activity up to a high dilution against all bacteria tested and had a broader spectrum of bactericidal activity than either agent alone.

This offers prospects for the development of clinically applicable honey-based antimicrobials with rapid and broad-range microbicidal activity.

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