Combinations of Alchornea cordifolia, Cassytha filiformis and Pterocarpus santalinoides in diarrhoegenic bacterial infections

AADB: A Manually Collected Database for Combinations of Antibiotics With Adjuvants

Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health concern. The lack of innovations in antibiotic development has led to renewed interest in antibiotic adjuvants. However, there is no database to collect antibiotic adjuvants. Herein, we build a comprehensive database named Antibiotic Adjuvant DataBase (AADB) by manually collecting relevant literature. Specifically, AADB includes 3,035 combinations of antibiotics with adjuvants, covering 83 antibiotics, 226 adjuvants, and 325 bacterial strains. AADB provides user-friendly interfaces for searching and downloading. Users can easily obtain these datasets for further analysis. In addition, we also collected related datasets (e.g., chemogenomic and metabolomic data) and proposed a computational strategy to dissect these datasets. As a test case, we identified 10 candidates for minocycline, and 6 of 10 candidates are the known adjuvants that synergize with minocycline to inhibit the growth of E. coli BW25113. We hope that AADB can help users to identify effective antibiotic adjuvants. AADB is freely available at http://www.acdb.plus/AADB.

Plant-Derived Products with Therapeutic Potential against Gastrointestinal Bacteria

The rising burden of antimicrobial resistance and increasing infectious disease outbreaks, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic, has led to a growing demand for the development of natural products as a valuable source of leading medicinal compounds. There is a wide variety of active constituents found in plants, making them an excellent source of antimicrobial agents with therapeutic potential as alternatives or potentiators of antibiotics. The structural diversity of phytochemicals enables them to act through a variety of mechanisms, targeting multiple biochemical pathways, in contrast to traditional antimicrobials. Moreover, the bioactivity of the herbal extracts can be explained by various metabolites working in synergism, where hundreds to thousands of metabolites make up the extract. Although a vast amount of literature is available regarding the use of these herbal extracts against bacterial and viral infections, critical assessments of their quality are lacking. This review aims to explore the efficacy and antimicrobial effects of herbal extracts against clinically relevant gastrointestinal infections including pathogenic Escherichia coli, toxigenic Clostridioides difficile, Campylobacter and Salmonella species. The review will discuss research gaps and propose future approaches to the translational development of plant-derived products for drug discovery purposes for the treatment and prevention of gastrointestinal infectious diseases.

The Pharmacobiochemical Effects of Ethanol Extract of Justicia secunda Vahl Leaves in Rattus Norvegicus

PURPOSE

This study evaluated the biochemical effects of ethanol leaves extract on Wistar rats and also shed light on its constituents and phytonutrients.

METHODS

The ethanolic extract of J. secunda leaves was prepared using conventional methods. Then, proximate and phytochemical analyses of the extracts were carried out using several methods previously reported in the literatures. The biochemical studies were also carried out as reported in previous literatures.

RESULTS

The ethanolic leaves extract contains appreciable quantities of phytonutrients and micronutrients as well as phytochemical constituents. The LD50 of the extract was determined to be 3800mg/kg body weight. There was a dose-dependent elevation of the blood sugar in comparison with the control. There was no significant increase on the bilirubin and liver enzymes levels or on the haematological parameters of the lab animals. The extract significantly elevated the lipid profile (P value < 0.0001), the glomerular filtration rate (increased creatinine and blood urea levels - P value < 0.0001), the serum electrolytes and the animals' weight. There was a significant decrease in the anion gap (P value < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The ethanol leaf extract of Justicia secunda has negative cardiac and renal effects on Wistar rats, causing increased lipid profile values, creatinine and blood urea levels in the experimental animals compared with control. The LD50 is below the safety level. Caution should be exercised as the biochemical profiles of cardiac and renal effects do not seem to be promising and the LD50 is below the safety level.