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.
Keywords
Clostridium difficile, toxin A, toxin B, natural products
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
10-24-2018
ISSN
2045-2322
Volume
8
Issue
1
PubMed ID
30356168
Publication Title
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
RAS ID
27875
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
First Page
15735
Last Page
15735
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