Characterization and Isolation of the Major Biologically Active Metabolites Isolated from Ficus retusa and Their Synergistic Effect with Tetracycline against Certain Pathogenic-Resistant Bacteria

Abdulwahab Alqahtani; Diaa A Marrez; Mohamed Aleraky; Nada A Fagir; Omaish Alqahtani; Samir Othman; Mohamed A El Raey; Hany G Attia

doi:10.3390/ph15121473

Characterization and Isolation of the Major Biologically Active Metabolites Isolated from Ficus retusa and Their Synergistic Effect with Tetracycline against Certain Pathogenic-Resistant Bacteria

Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2022 Nov 26;15(12):1473. doi: 10.3390/ph15121473.

Authors

Abdulwahab Alqahtani¹, Diaa A Marrez², Mohamed Aleraky³, Nada A Fagir³, Omaish Alqahtani⁴, Samir Othman⁵, Mohamed A El Raey⁶, Hany G Attia⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Najran University, Najran 1988, Saudi Arabia.
² Food Toxicology and Contaminants Department, National Research Centre, Cairo 12622, Egypt.
³ Department of Clinical Pathology, College of Medicine, Najran University, Najran 1988, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Najran University, Najran 1988, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, 6th of October University, Giza 12585, Egypt.
⁶ Department of Phytochemistry and Plant Systematics, Pharmaceutical Industries Research Division, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo 12311, Egypt.

Abstract

Globally, pathogenic microbes have reached a worrisome level of antibiotic resistance. Our work aims to identify and isolate the active components from the bioactive Ficus retusa bark extract and assess the potential synergistic activity of the most major compounds' constituents with the antibiotic tetracycline against certain pathogenic bacterial strains. The phytochemical screening of an acetone extract of F. retusa bark using column chromatography led to the identification of 10 phenolic components. The synergistic interaction of catechin and chlorogenic acid as the most major compounds with tetracycline was evaluated by checkerboard assay followed by time-kill assay, against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Salmonella typhi with fraction inhibitory concentration index values (FICI) of 0.38, 0.43, 0.38, 0.38, 0.38, and 0.75 for catechin and 0.38, 0.65, 0.38, 0.63, 0.38, and 0.75 for chlorogenic acid. The combination of catechin and chlorogenic acid with tetracycline significantly enhanced antibacterial action against gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms; therefore, catechin and chlorogenic acid combinations with tetracycline could be employed as innovative and safe antibiotics to combat microbial resistance.

Keywords: Ficus bark; catechin; chlorogenic acid; microbial resistance; synergistic activity; tetracycline.

Grants and funding

The authors are thankful to the Deanship of Scientific Research at the Najran University for funding this work under the General Research Funding program (grant code NU/-/MRC/10/363).