Virulence-Inhibiting Herbal Compound Falcarindiol Significantly Reduced Mortality in Mice Infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa

• Published in: Antibiotics (Basel) Vol. 9; no. 3; p. 136
• Main Authors: Zhang, Pansong, Wu, Qiaolian, Chen, Lin, Duan, Kangmin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 24.03.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: anti-virulence therapeutic; Antibiotics; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; China; Drug resistance; falcarindiol; Fungicides; Gene expression; Genes; Gram-negative bacteria; Herbal medicine; Infections; Infectious diseases; Medical research; Mortality; Motility; Pathogens; Phenazine; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Pyocyanin; Quorum sensing; Signs and symptoms; Swarming; type iii secretion system; Viability; Virulence; Virulence (Microbiology); Virulence factors; China; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; anti-virulence therapeutic; quorum sensing; antibiotics; type III secretion system; falcarindiol
• ISSN: 2079-6382; 2079-6382
• DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics9030136

Antipathogenic compounds that target the virulence of pathogenic bacteria rather than their viability offer a promising alternative approach to treat infectious diseases. Using extracts from 30 Chinese herbs that are known for treating symptoms resembling infections, we identified an active compound falcarindiol from Ting ex H. T. Chang that showed potent inhibitory activities against multiple virulence factors. Falcarindiol significantly repressed virulence-related genes, including the type III secretion system (T3SS); quorum sensing synthase genes and ; ; motility-related genes and ; and phenazine synthesis genes and swarming motility and pyocyanin production were reduced significantly. In a burned mouse model, falcarindiol treatment significantly reduced the mortality in mice infected with P. aeruginosa, indicating that falcarindiol is a promising antipathogenic drug candidate for treating infections.