The Antimicrobial Activity of Combination of Vitamin D3 and Omega-3 against Pathogenic Microorganisms

Mohammad A A Al-Najjar; Shaymaa B Abdulrazzaq; Shatha Al-Shaer; Muna Barakat; Amin Omar; Rafat Zrieq; Eliza Hasen; Mahmoud Abu Samak

doi:10.2174/0113862073293834240425061327

The Antimicrobial Activity of Combination of Vitamin D3 and Omega-3 against Pathogenic Microorganisms

Comb Chem High Throughput Screen. 2024 May 14. doi: 10.2174/0113862073293834240425061327. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Mohammad A A Al-Najjar¹, Shaymaa B Abdulrazzaq¹, Shatha Al-Shaer², Muna Barakat³, Amin Omar¹, Rafat Zrieq⁴, Eliza Hasen², Mahmoud Abu Samak³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
² MEU Research Unit, Middle East University, Amman, Jordan.
³ Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Applied Science Private University, Amman. Jordan.
⁴ College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha'il, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 38752638
DOI: 10.2174/0113862073293834240425061327

Abstract

Background: Food supplements such as vitamin D3 and omega-3 have a significant role in activating the immune system and impacting the diversity of gut microbiota; thus, controlling the growth of invading pathogens indirectly.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the direct antimicrobial activity of vitamin D3 and omega- 3 individually, combined together, and combined with low concentrations of gentamicin or amphotericin B against selected pathogenic microorganisms. In addition, this study hypothesizes the potential antimicrobial mechanism and recommends suitable studies to be conducted.

Method: Minimum inhibitory concentration of different serial dilutions of vitamin D3 [0.7μg/mL-83.3μg/mL] or omega-3 [0.7mg/mL-100mg/mL] or combined [vitamin D3:1.3μg/mL-83.3μg/mL and omega-3:1.56mg/mL-100mg/mL] with/without antibiotic have been investigated on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans using check board technique.

Results: The highest concentration of vitamin D3 [83.3 μg/mL] demonstrated a complete eradication of the tested microorganisms. Conversely, omega-3 had a lower effect on them. The highest concentration of combining vitamin D3 and omega-3 with/without gentamicin resulted in a complete eradication of the S. aureus, E. coli and P. aeruginosa with a 6.8 to 7 log reduction. On the other hand, C. albicans was inhibited when using vitamin D3 [83.3 μg/mL] or when this concentration is combined with 100mg/mL of omega-3. However, when these two concentrations were added to amphotericin B the log reduction dropped to 0.45 suggesting antagonistic effect.

Conclusion: These findings suggested that, unlike omega 3, vitamin D3 possesses good antimicrobial effects against pathogenic microorganisms. The combination of the studied food supplement showed enhanced microbial inhibition at high concentration, while they had antagonistic effect when combined with amphotericin B and applied on C. albicans combined. Further studies on the exact antimicrobial mechanism are still required to understand the measured data here.

Keywords: C. albicans.; E. coli; P. aeruginosa; S. aureus; Vitamin D3; amphotericin B; gentamicin; omega 3.