Sodium Polyphosphate and Polyethylenimine Enhance the Antimicrobial Activities of Plant Essential Oils

<p>Plant extracts have been used for millennia for treatment of disease, with much recent interest focusing on the antimicrobial activities of plant essential oils (EOs). Although EOs are active against common microbial pathogens, their effective use as topical, environmental or food antimicro...

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Main Author: Byron Brehm-Stecher
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: ScienceOpen 2016-11-01
Series:ScienceOpen Research
Online Access:https://www.scienceopen.com/document?vid=48940cb4-f5e9-4f8a-ab7a-4bb540536c07
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author Byron Brehm-Stecher
author_facet Byron Brehm-Stecher
author_sort Byron Brehm-Stecher
collection DOAJ
description <p>Plant extracts have been used for millennia for treatment of disease, with much recent interest focusing on the antimicrobial activities of plant essential oils (EOs). Although EOs are active against common microbial pathogens, their effective use as topical, environmental or food antimicrobials will require EO-based formulations with enhanced antimicrobial activities. In the present study, two polyionic compounds, sodium polyphosphate (polyP, a polyanion) and polyethylenimine (PEI, a polycation), were evaluated for their abilities to enhance the antimicrobial activities of six EOs against the human pathogens <em>Escherichia coli</em> O157:H7, <em>Salmonella enterica</em> subsp. <em>enterica </em>ser Minnesota, <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em>, <em>Listeria monocytogenes</em>, <em>Staphylococcus aureus </em>and <em>Candida albicans</em>. EOs tested were cinnamon, clove, regular and redistilled oregano and two types of thyme oil. EOs were examined via disk diffusion and broth microdilution, either alone or in the presence of sub-inhibitory levels of polyP or PEI. Both polyP and PEI were found to be effective enhancers of EO activity against all strains examined, and calculation of fractional inhibitory indices for select EO/organism pairings demonstrated that true synergy was possible with this enhancement approach. Experiments with a deep rough strain of S. Minnesota probed the role of the outer membrane in both intrinsic resistance to EOs and enhancement by polyions. The use of polyP and PEI for boosting the antimicrobial activities of EOs may eventually facilitate the development of more effective EO-based antimicrobial treatments for use in applications such as wound treatment, surface disinfection, or as GRAS antimicrobials for use in foods or on food contact surfaces.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-ad2d0f02374d4edf976b8527d4652b782023-02-23T10:21:19ZengScienceOpenScienceOpen Research2199-10062016-11-0110.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-LIFE.Z72TP0.v1Sodium Polyphosphate and Polyethylenimine Enhance the Antimicrobial Activities of Plant Essential OilsByron Brehm-Stecher<p>Plant extracts have been used for millennia for treatment of disease, with much recent interest focusing on the antimicrobial activities of plant essential oils (EOs). Although EOs are active against common microbial pathogens, their effective use as topical, environmental or food antimicrobials will require EO-based formulations with enhanced antimicrobial activities. In the present study, two polyionic compounds, sodium polyphosphate (polyP, a polyanion) and polyethylenimine (PEI, a polycation), were evaluated for their abilities to enhance the antimicrobial activities of six EOs against the human pathogens <em>Escherichia coli</em> O157:H7, <em>Salmonella enterica</em> subsp. <em>enterica </em>ser Minnesota, <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em>, <em>Listeria monocytogenes</em>, <em>Staphylococcus aureus </em>and <em>Candida albicans</em>. EOs tested were cinnamon, clove, regular and redistilled oregano and two types of thyme oil. EOs were examined via disk diffusion and broth microdilution, either alone or in the presence of sub-inhibitory levels of polyP or PEI. Both polyP and PEI were found to be effective enhancers of EO activity against all strains examined, and calculation of fractional inhibitory indices for select EO/organism pairings demonstrated that true synergy was possible with this enhancement approach. Experiments with a deep rough strain of S. Minnesota probed the role of the outer membrane in both intrinsic resistance to EOs and enhancement by polyions. The use of polyP and PEI for boosting the antimicrobial activities of EOs may eventually facilitate the development of more effective EO-based antimicrobial treatments for use in applications such as wound treatment, surface disinfection, or as GRAS antimicrobials for use in foods or on food contact surfaces.</p>https://www.scienceopen.com/document?vid=48940cb4-f5e9-4f8a-ab7a-4bb540536c07
spellingShingle Byron Brehm-Stecher
Sodium Polyphosphate and Polyethylenimine Enhance the Antimicrobial Activities of Plant Essential Oils
ScienceOpen Research
title Sodium Polyphosphate and Polyethylenimine Enhance the Antimicrobial Activities of Plant Essential Oils
title_full Sodium Polyphosphate and Polyethylenimine Enhance the Antimicrobial Activities of Plant Essential Oils
title_fullStr Sodium Polyphosphate and Polyethylenimine Enhance the Antimicrobial Activities of Plant Essential Oils
title_full_unstemmed Sodium Polyphosphate and Polyethylenimine Enhance the Antimicrobial Activities of Plant Essential Oils
title_short Sodium Polyphosphate and Polyethylenimine Enhance the Antimicrobial Activities of Plant Essential Oils
title_sort sodium polyphosphate and polyethylenimine enhance the antimicrobial activities of plant essential oils
url https://www.scienceopen.com/document?vid=48940cb4-f5e9-4f8a-ab7a-4bb540536c07
work_keys_str_mv AT byronbrehmstecher sodiumpolyphosphateandpolyethylenimineenhancetheantimicrobialactivitiesofplantessentialoils