Total alkaloids from Sophora alopecuroides L. increase susceptibility of extended-spectrum β-lactamases producing Escherichia coli isolates to cefotaxime and ceftazidime / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the antimicrobial activity of total alkaloids extracted from Sophorea alopecuroides L. (TASA) against clinical isolated extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The antibacterial activity of TASA either itself or in combination with cefotaxime (CTX) or ceftazidime (CAZ) was investigated by using the microbroth dilution method and phenotypic confirmatory disk diffusion test against three clinical isolated ESBLs-producing E. coli strains; the interactions of TASA and CTX or CAZ were ascertained by evaluating the fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The antibacterial activity of either TASA itself or in combination with CTX or CAZ was found. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MICs) of TASA against the ESBLs producing isolates was 12.5 mg/mL. In the combinations with a sub-inhibitory concentration of TASA, a synergistic effect on CTX and CAZ against the ESBLs producing isolates was observed. Similarly, the isolates exposed to lower dose of TASA yielded an increased susceptibility to CTX and CAZ by 8-16 folds determined by microdilution assay. Moreover, enzymatic detection of ESBLs demonstrated that TASA induced reversal resistance to CTX and CAZ partially by a mechanism of inhibition of ESBLs activity in these isolates. Additionally, in the tested isolates following the exposure of TASA, molecular analysis verified the SHV-type beta-lactamase encoding ESBL gene in these isolates, and no mutation was introduced into the ESBL gene.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>These results suggest that TASA could be used as a source of natural compound with pharmacological activity of reversal resistance to antimicrobial agent. These findings also indicated that the application of the TASA in combination with antibiotics might prove useful in the control and treatment of infectious diseases caused by the ESBLs producing enterobacteriaceae.</p>

System of Intein-mediated PHB Purified Human Antimicrobial Peptide LL-37 / 中国生物工程杂志

The new intein-mediated PHB purify protein system is a high expression, automatic cutting, for purification, low-cost protein purification system,it is conducive to large-scale protein purification.Choose human antibacterial peptide LL-37 as the purification objects,which is poison to prokaryotic cell.We construct intein-mediated PHB purified human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 system through genetic engineering technology and use this system to purify LL-37. The results show that this system can highly express LL-37 fusion protein and purifiy the product as same size with expectations.