School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.
Cooperative Research Centre for Honey Bee Products Limited (CRC HBP), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.
Yeast. 2024 Sep;41(9):537-548. doi: 10.1002/yea.3974. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
With the steady rise in antifungal resistance amongst clinically important yeasts, antifungal drug discovery remains of the utmost importance. To determine the potential of some honeys as alternative antifungal agents, we quantified the antifungal activity of 12 Western Australian honey samples, two Manuka honey samples and an artificial honey against 10 yeast isolates including clinical and reference strains. Results showed that the tested honeys varied in activity, and yeasts species also differed in susceptibility, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) determined by broth microdilution ranging from 8% to >44% w/v honey. Honeys with the highest overall activity were derived from Blackbutt (Eucalyptus patens), Jarrah (E. marginata), and Karri (E. diversicolor). The optical density of each MIC microtitre plate was determined after incubation and showed that at relatively low concentrations of honey the growth of all yeasts was enhanced compared to the untreated control, whereas at and above approximately 12% w/v, honeys exerted a dose-dependent growth inhibitory effect, the extent of which varied by honey type. Time-kill studies with 64% w/v honey showed that all eight of the natural honeys tested had greater fungicidal activity than the comparator artificial honey. Our findings suggest that the specific nectar-derived phytochemicals present within each honey play an important role in antifungal activity, and support the notion that activity is due to a combination of factors including osmotic activity, hydrogen peroxide and phytochemical compounds. These data indicate that honey is worthy of further investigation as a potential therapeutic agent for superficial yeast infections.
随着临床上重要酵母菌的抗真菌耐药性稳步上升，抗真菌药物的发现仍然至关重要。为了确定一些蜂蜜作为替代抗真菌药物的潜力，我们定量测定了 12 种西澳大利亚蜂蜜样本、2 种麦卢卡蜂蜜样本和 1 种人工蜂蜜对 10 种酵母分离株（包括临床和参考菌株）的抗真菌活性。结果表明，测试的蜂蜜活性不同，酵母种类的敏感性也不同，通过肉汤微量稀释法测定的最小抑菌浓度（MIC）范围为 8%至>44%w/v 蜂蜜。活性最高的蜂蜜来自黑木（Eucalyptus patens）、山龙眼（E. marginata）和卡里（E. diversicolor）。孵育后测定每个 MIC 微量滴定板的光密度，结果表明，与未经处理的对照相比，在相对较低的蜂蜜浓度下，所有酵母的生长都得到了增强，而在 12%w/v 左右及以上时，蜂蜜表现出剂量依赖性的生长抑制作用，其程度因蜂蜜类型而异。用 64%w/v 蜂蜜进行的时间杀伤研究表明，测试的 8 种天然蜂蜜均比比较人工蜂蜜具有更强的杀菌活性。我们的研究结果表明，每种蜂蜜中存在的特定花蜜衍生植物化学物质在抗真菌活性中发挥着重要作用，并支持这样一种观点，即活性是由于多种因素的结合，包括渗透压活性、过氧化氢和植物化学物质。这些数据表明，蜂蜜值得进一步研究，作为治疗浅表酵母感染的潜在治疗剂。
