RND pump inhibition: in-silico and in-vitro study by Eugenol on clinical strain of and .

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative bacteria pose significant challenges to the public health. Various factors are involved in the development and spread of MDR strains, including the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, the lack of new antibiotics being developed, and etc. Efflux pump is one of the most important factors in the emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Aiming at the introduction of novel plant antibiotic, we investigated the effect of eugenol on the and efflux pumps in () and (). Molecular docking was performed using PachDock Server 1.3. The effect of eugenol on bacteria was determined by disk diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). A cartwheel test was also performed to evaluate efflux pump inhibition. Finally, the expression of the and genes was examined by real-time PCR. The results of molecular docking showed that eugenol interacted with and pumps at - 29.28 and - 28.59 Kcal.mol, respectively. The results of the antibiogram test indicated that the antibiotic resistance of the treated bacteria decreased significantly ( < 0.05). The results of the cartwheel test suggested the inhibition of efflux pump activity in and . Analysis of the genes by real-time PCR demonstrated that the expression of and genes was significantly reduced, compared to untreated bacteria ( < 0.001). The findings suggest, among other things, that eugenol may make and more sensitive to antibiotics and that it could be used as an inhibitor to prevent bacteria from becoming resistant to antibiotics.