Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Scientific Reports
ISSN
2045-2322
Volume
8
Issue
1
First Page
15735
Last Page
15735
PubMed ID
30356168
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
RAS ID
27875
Abstract
Clostridium difficile infection is a toxin-mediated disease of the colon. C. difficile virulence is primarily attributed to the production of toxin A and toxin B; thus this study was aimed to investigate the effect of a range of natural products on the production and activity of C. difficile toxins in vitro. Twenty-two natural products were investigated against four C. difficile strains. The activity of products against toxins was determined using Vero and HT-29 cells cytotoxicity and neutral red uptake assays. The indirect effect of products on toxin-mediated cytotoxicity was determined using the same cell lines. The effect of seven products on toxin production by C. difficile was determined using ELISA. Zingerone (0.3 mg/ml) protected both cell lines from C. difficile cytopathic effects, confirmed by the neutral red uptake assay (P < 0.05). Three Leptospermum honeys (4% w/v), fresh onion bulb extract (12.5% v/v) and trans-cinnamaldehyde (0.005% v/v) all reduced toxin production and activity significantly (P ≤ 0.023). Garlic clove powder (4.7 mg/ml) only reduced toxin activity (P ≤ 0.047). Overall, several natural products had activity against C. difficile toxins in vitro encouraging further investigation against C. difficile toxins in vivo.
DOI
10.1038/s41598-018-33954-2
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Roshan, N., Riley, T. V., Knight, D. R., & Hammer, K. A. (2018). Effect of natural products on the production and activity of Clostridium difficile toxins in vitro. Scientific reports, 8(1), Article number: 15735. Available here