Microbial Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, The Neotia University, Sarisha, West Bengal, 743368, India.
National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani, West Bengal, 741251, India.
Arch Microbiol. 2021 Dec 23;204(1):59. doi: 10.1007/s00203-021-02642-7.
Staphylococcus aureus causes numerous community-acquired and nosocomial infections in humans by exploiting biofilm. In this context, this study aims to impede the formation of Staphylococcus aureus biofilm by exposing the cells to a plant-based alkaloid, piperine. Our study revealed that piperine exhibited considerable antimicrobial activity against the test organism. However, we had tested the lower concentrations (up to 32 µg/mL) of piperine to observe whether they could show any antibiofilm activity against the same organism. Several experiments, like crystal violet (CV) assay, estimation of total biofilm protein, and fluorescence microscopic observations, established that lower concentrations (up to 16 µg/mL) of piperine showed efficient antibiofilm activity against Staphylococcus aureus. In this connection, we also noticed that the lower concentrations (8 and 16 µg/mL) of piperine showed a considerable reduction in microbial metabolic activity. Besides, it was also observed that the mentioned concentrations of piperine did not compromise the microbial growth of the target organism while exhibiting antibiofilm activity. To understand the underlying mechanism of microbial biofilm inhibition under the influence of piperine, we observed that the compound was found to accumulate reactive oxygen species in the bacterial cells that could play an important role in the inhibition of biofilm formation. Furthermore, the tested concentrations (8 and 16 µg/mL) of piperine were able to inhibit the motility of the test organism that might compromise the development of biofilm. Thus, piperine could be considered as a potential agent for the effective management of biofilm threat caused by Staphylococcus aureus.
金黄色葡萄球菌通过生物膜在人类中引发许多社区获得性和医院获得性感染。在这种情况下，本研究旨在通过暴露于植物源生物碱胡椒碱来阻止金黄色葡萄球菌生物膜的形成。我们的研究表明，胡椒碱对测试生物具有相当大的抗菌活性。然而，我们已经测试了胡椒碱的较低浓度（高达 32 µg/mL），以观察它们是否可以对同一生物显示任何抗生物膜活性。几项实验，如结晶紫（CV）测定、总生物膜蛋白的估计和荧光显微镜观察，证实较低浓度（高达 16 µg/mL）的胡椒碱对金黄色葡萄球菌具有有效的抗生物膜活性。在这方面，我们还注意到较低浓度（8 和 16 µg/mL）的胡椒碱显示出对微生物代谢活性的相当大的降低。此外，还观察到所述浓度的胡椒碱在表现出抗生物膜活性的同时，不会损害目标生物的微生物生长。为了了解胡椒碱影响下微生物生物膜抑制的潜在机制，我们观察到该化合物在细菌细胞中积累活性氧，这可能在抑制生物膜形成中发挥重要作用。此外，测试浓度（8 和 16 µg/mL）的胡椒碱能够抑制测试生物的运动性，这可能损害生物膜的形成。因此，胡椒碱可以被认为是有效管理金黄色葡萄球菌引起的生物膜威胁的潜在药物。
