Comparison of the antimicrobial and antivirulence activities of Sidr and Tualang honeys with Manuka honey against Staphylococcus aureus

Mohammad  A. Al-Kafaween; Rania M. Al-Groom; Abu Bakar  Mohd Hilmi

doi:10.18502/ijm.v15i1.11923

Mohammad A. Al-Kafaween Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
Rania M. Al-Groom Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Zarqa University, Zarqa, Jordan
Abu Bakar Mohd Hilmi Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijm.v15i1.11923

Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; Antibacterial; Anti-virulence; Honey; Virulence factors

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Honey is one of the oldest traditional remedies that has been widely utilized to cure a variety of human ailments. The objective of this research was to test and compare the antibacterial activity of Sidr honey (SH) and Tualang honey (TH) to that of Manuka honey (MH) against Staphylococcus aureus.

Materials and Methods: The antibacterial activity of MH, SH and TH against S. aureus was investigated by agar well dif- fusion, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC), time-kill curve, microtiter plate and RT-qPCR analysis.

Results: Agar inhibition assay showed that MH possess highest total antibacterial activity against S. aureus with an inhibi- tion zone 25.1 mm compared with that of SH (22.2 mm) and TH (21.3 mm). The findings showed that when compared to SH and TH (MIC: 25% and MBC: 50%), MH honey had the lowest MIC (12.5%) and MBC (25%). After S. aureus was exposed to MH, SH, and TH, there was a decrease in colony-forming unit as seen by the time-kill curve. The lowest concentration

20% of MH, SH and TH was significantly found to inhibit S. aureus biofilm. The RT-qPCR results revealed that all the se- lected genes in S. aureus were downregulated in gene expression following exposure to each of the tested honeys. Comparing the total antibacterial, antibiofilm, and antivirulence activities of all the tested honeys, MH demonstrated the greatest levels of these properties.

Conclusion: According to this study, various types of each evaluated honey have the capacity to effectively suppress and modify the virulence of S. aureus via a variety of molecular targets.