The rapid acquisition of multidrug-resistant (MDR) phenotypes by bacteria creates life-threatening complications in infection control. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the antibacterial activity of the methanol extract ofi Talinum fruticosum /ileaves and its interaction effects with antibiotics against MDR Gram-negative bacteriai./i The broth microdilution method was used to evaluate the antibacterial activity and antibiotic-resistance modulation effects of the extract. The interaction between antibiotics and iT. fruticosum/i leafi /iextract (TFLE) was conducted using the checkerboard assay. Phytochemical screening was assessed using standardized qualitative tests. TFLE displayed low antibacterial activity, with MICs ranging from 512 to 2048 µg/mL against the tested bacteria. Interestingly, TFLE at its subinhibitory concentration (MIC/8) enhanced the efficacy of antibiotics by 2-to 64-fold, particularly tetracycline, doxycycline, imipenem, kanamycin, and ciprofloxacin, against at least one of the examined MDR bacteria. In addition, TFLE displayed a synergistic effect (ƩFIC 0.5) with kanamycin and doxycycline against iK. pneumoniae /iK2 and iE. aerogenes /iEA298. The phytochemical screening indicated that TFLE contained flavonoids, saponins, tannins, terpenoids, phenols, and anthocyanins. Overall, this study shows that iT. fruticosum/i leaf extract could be used in combination with commonly used antibiotics to fight infections involving MDR bacteria. Therefore, further studies are needed to identify in this plant a likely nontoxic antibiotic modulator.
Fankam et al. (Wed,) studied this question.