Synergistic Antibacterial Activity of Phyllanthus Emblica Fruits and Its Phytocompounds with Ampicillin: a Computational and Experimental Study

Overview

Journal Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol

Specialty Pharmacology

Date 2023 Jul 31

PMID 37522914

Authors

Rakshandha Saini

Vikas Kumar

Chirag N Patel

Anuradha Sourirajan

Kamal Dev

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Phyllanthus emblica L. (syn. Emblica officinalis), popularly known as amla, Indian gooseberry, or the King of Rasyana, is a member of Phyllanthaceae family and is traditionally used in Ayurveda as an immunity booster. The present study aimed to investigate the synergistic interaction of Phyllanthus emblica (FPE) fruits and its selected phytocompounds with ampicillin against selected bacteria. Further, an in silico technique was used to find if major phytocompounds of FPE could bind to proteins responsible for antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens and enhance the bioactivity of ampicillin. FPE and all the selected phytocompounds were found to have synergistic antibacterial activity with ampicillin against tested bacteria in different combinations. However, ellagic acid and quercetin interactions with ampicillin resulted in maximum bioactivity enhancement of 32-128 folds and 16-277 folds, respectively. In silico analysis revealed strong ellagic acid, quercetin, and rutin binding with penicillin-binding protein (PBP-) 3, further supported by MD simulations. Ellagic acid and quercetin also fulfill Lipinski's rule, showing similar toxicity characteristics to ampicillin. FPE showed synergistic interaction with ampicillin, possibly due to the presence of phytocompounds such as gallic acid, ellagic acid, quercetin, and rutin. Molecular docking and MD simulations showed the strong interaction of ellagic acid and quercetin with PBP-3 protein. Therefore, these compounds can be explored as potential non-toxic drug candidates to combat bacterial antimicrobial resistance.

Citing Articles

Anti-staphylococcal activity of a polyphenol-rich citrus extract: synergy with β-lactams and low proficiency to induce resistance.

Mazzantini D, Massimino M, Calvigioni M, Rossi V, Celandroni F, Lupetti A Front Microbiol. 2024; 15:1415400.

PMID: 39021634 PMC: 11252074. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1415400.

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