Introduction
Gram-positive
S.aureus develops in clusters that resemble grapes and has a spherical form (cocci). This facultative anaerobe is frequently found on the skin, in the nose, and in the respiratory system.
S.aureus can cause food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome in addition to skin infections like abscesses and pyogenic infections (such as endocarditis and septic arthritis), respiratory infections like sinusitis and hospital-acquired pneumonia [
1]. Over the preceding decades, Antibiotic resistance has been developed as a result of widespread overprescription, self-medication, and overuse of therapeutically available antibiotics, which has precipitated prolonged exposure of pathogenic microorganisms to these antimicrobial agents [
2]. The process underlying antibiotic resistance, consequent to extended exposure,involves the accumulation of several genes, each conferring resistance to a specific antibiotic. Within individual bacterial cells, this mechanism has notably facilitated the proliferation of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterialstrains.MDR bacteria employ horizontal gene transfer mechanisms to disseminate antibiotic resistance genes among their population [
3]. Several diseases were attributed to multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains proved to be incurable and fatal owing to their elevated resistance levels against the majority of clinically accessible antibiotics. Presently, it was documented that over 70% of pathogenic bacteria have acquired such resistance [
4]. Major human bacterial pathogen
S. aureus can develop resistance to the majority of antibiotics [
5]. For instance, the clinical usage of methicillin led to the emergence of methicillin-resistant
S. aureus (MRSA) [
6]. MRSA is a widespread bacterium that can cause a broad variety of infections, from minor skin irritations to serious, even life-threatening conditions including sepsis and endocarditis [
7]. It puts a heavy pressure on the world's healthcare system [
8]. It has been determined that
S.aureus can resist β -lactams in two different ways. The most important step in the production of the β-lactamase enzyme, which breaks down the β -lactam ring of antibiotics, is encoded by the
blaZ gene. In addition to its usual location on plasmids, the
blaZ gene is also present in the chromosomal DNA of the bacteria. The two nearby genes blaI and blaR1, which serve as
blaZ's anti-repressor and transcription repressor, respectively, control the expression of
blaZ [
9]. The development of new β-lactam type antibiotics or β-lactamase inhibitors is a hotly researched topic since lactamase-mediated antibiotic resistance is a significant public health concern [
10]. In addition to using β-lactamase inhibitors, which are the most promising method, alternative tactics, are being considered to inhibit multidrug resistant (MDR) microorganisms. Antimicrobial peptides, nanoparticles, bacteriophages, various peptide nano formulations, and combinations with commercial antibiotics are some of these [
11]. Throughout history, traditional medicine has frequently utilized medicinal plants or their derivatives to combat various infectious diseases. Numerous reports have highlighted the antimicrobial properties exhibited by various plants or their extracts [
12]. When plant remedies are employed in conjunction with antimicrobial drugs, specific herb-drug interactions potentially yielding synergistic augmentation of antimicrobial efficacy and mitigating adverse synthetic drug effects. These synergistic effects have undoubtedly reduced the probability of diminished drug efficacy when administered alone against microbial infections over prolonged periods [
13].
Moreover, the strategy of combining herbs with drugs may facilitate the discovery of novel antibiotics and the reintroduction of those antibiotics to which bacteria have developed resistance, thereby offering a promising opportunity for combating antimicrobial resistance [
14]. Herbal products, such as medium-chain fatty acids and essential oils, whether employed as dietary supplements or as additives for food preservation, are recognized for their antimicrobial attributes. Monolaurin is a monoester created from lauric acid and glycerol, commonly known as glycerol monolaurate. Although lauric acid constitutes a significant proportion of virgin coconut oil, the levels of monolaurin in virgin coconut are typically low. Nevertheless, when orally ingested or utilized as a dietary supplement, certain coconut oil fractions undergo hydrolysis catalyzed by pancreatic lipase, resulting in the formation of lauric acid monoglyceride [
15]. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) usually recognizes glycerol monolaurate as safe for human use, and the cosmetic and food sectors frequently employ this substance. This substance has strong antibacterial effects on
Bacillus anthracis and Gram-positive cocci [
16]. It has been demonstrated that monolaurin works against
S.aureus strains that are both sensitive and resistant [
17]. In contrast to the majority of antibiotics, which typically target specific bacterial sites for their antibacterial effects, GML (glycerol monolaurate) seems to act on numerous bacterial surface signal transduction systems indiscriminately by interacting with plasma membranes. Furthermore, it may prove valuable as an environmental surface microbicide for controlling bacterial infections and contamination [
18].
Discussion
It is now a worldwide issue that human pathogenic microorganisms have evolved drug resistance. The spread of
S.aureus in hospital and community settings has had a significant effect on worldwide public health [
30]. Since the current medicines used to treat these resistant bacteria are no longer effective, it is vital to find new alternatives. Natural products derived from medicinal plants have shown a variety of biological activities in the biomedical field during the past few decades, including their antibacterial activity against different drug resistant microorganisms. More encouragingly, certain natural compounds may be able to make the target bacteria receptive to antibiotics once more by reversing the bacterial resistance to them [
31]. This research was done to find and define the antibacterial effect as well as the possible synergistic combination between certain beta lactam antibiotics and potential antibacterial compound, monolaurin previously found in Coconut oil that was effective against
S.aureus [
16].
This study focused on the beta lactam family of antibiotics since they are still among the most frequently prescribed medication classes, but their effectiveness is constrained by the rise of bacteria with a variety of resistance mechanisms [
32].
In recent years,
S.aureus has become resistant to both new and traditional antibiotics. Thus, treatment of antibiotic resistant bacteria represents a therapeutic problem. The antibiogram of the studied
S.aureus strains revealed that linezolid and imipenem were the most effective antibiotic against
S.aureus (2% and 3% resistance rate) followed by vancomycin (4.35% Resistance rate) and chloramphenicol (13.9% Resistance rate).
S.aureus showed complete resistance to ampicillin/sulbactam amoxicillin/clavulunic acid, and piperacillin/tazobactam, moderate resistance against tetracycline (57.4%), rifampicin (36.52%), ciprofloxacin (34.8%) and levofloxacin (34.8%) and gentamicin (33.9%). According to Vu et al. [
33], 89% of
S.aureus isolates were penicillin resistant, 37% were fluoroquinolone resistant, 41% were aminoglycoside resistant, and only 2% of the isolates were vancomycin resistant. These findings were in line with our findings. Similar findings were made by Ahmed et al. [
34], who reported that only 3% of
S.aureus strains were imipenem resistant, 100% were resistant to penicillin except for chloramphenicol and tetracycline, 72% of the isolates were resistant.
Our results were at conflicts with a research by Sonbol et al. [
35], which revealed that ciprofloxacin had the lowest resistance rates (3.7% resistance) against the tested isolates. Additionally, substantial resistance rates to rifampin (57.4%) were found, which was higher than our findings for rifampin, respectively.
Infections due to methicillin-resistant
S.aureus (MRSA) are globally getting worth inside and outside of hospitals. Cefoxitin becomes more recommended for detection of methicillin resistance in MRSA when using disk diffusion testing [
36]. Out of 115
S.aureus samples used in this investigation, 103 (89.6%) were MRSA and 12 (10.4%) were MSSA. Our results were consistent with a study by Garoy et al. [
37] whom found that 15 (19.5%) of the 82
S.aureus isolates were methicillin-sensitive
S.aureus (MSSA), with 59 (72% of them) being MRSA. Also, high prevalence of MRSA isolates 81.2% was identified [
38]. However, Chukwueze et al. [
39] revealed that 102 of the 188
S.aureus isolates were methicillin-susceptible S.aureus and 86 were methicillin-resistant
S.aureus (MSSA) respectively.
Based on information from other researchers and our own
, blaZ gene identification by conventional PCR was considered as the gold standard for determining the presence of penicillinase in the tested
Staphylococci isolates. Clinical and Laboratory Confirmation was another element in this choice. Standards Institute (CLSI), who claims that severe infections with
S.aureus etiology requiring penicillin therapy should take the identification of this gene into consideration [
40]. Detection of
blaZ gene was found in 73.9% of
S.aureus isolates. In Chicago, Similar results obtained by Wang et al. [
41] A total of 196 isolates (73%) were
blaZ positive. Also, our results were in accordance with the recent literature, with values of 87% and 92% [
42,
43]. In Bulgaria, all tested
S.aureus were harboured
blaZ gene (100%).This result seems higher than our results [
44].
Monolaurin's MIC for
S.aureus was ranged from 250 to 2000 µg/ml. Similar studies reported that 1-monolaurin can prevent the growth of
S.aureus at different concentrations, even at the lowest concentration of 100 µg/ml [
45] and 500 µg/ml [
46]. Monolaurin had MICs of 100 and 250 µg/ml against
S.aureus ATCC 25923 and ATCC 1885, respectively [
47,
48]. Furthermore, a comparable study on the antibacterial activity of monolaurin and lauric acid was reported by Batovska et al. [
49] who demonstrated that monolaurin had relatively greater inhibitory capabilities than lauric acid against
Staphylococcus.epidermidis, Streptococcus.pyogenes, Listeria.monocytogenes, Corynebacterium.diphtheria and Bacillus.cereus with the MIC values of 31.25, 31.25, 62.5, 62.5, and 125 µg/ml, respectively.
There have also been several reports of monolaurin's inhibitory mechanism against Gram-positive bacteria. The typical antibacterial target locations have been extensively investigated. Gram-positive bacteria's cell wall is their outermost layer. It is a crucial organelle that helps to keep the cell's structure intact and hinders the entry of external substances. Damage to the cell wall might potentially result in decreased cellular activity and metabolic disturbance brought on by invading foreign substances, which would result in cell death [
50]. This was confirmed through scanning electron microscopy. SEM analysis revealed that the cells treated with monolaurin showed a morphological alteration in the form of cell elongation and swelling when compared to the control. Similar study demonstrated changes in cell activity and morphology of
S.aureus upon using monolaurin [
51].
Upon studying gene expression using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we can often investigate changes (increases or decreases) in the expression of a particular gene via measuring the amount of the gene-specific transcript. We performed gene analysis to confirm how monolaurin can affects the β-lactam resistance gene (
blaZ). The expression of
blaZ was significantly inhibited in tested isolates in a dose-dependent manner when they were treated with sub-MIC 250 and 500 µg/ml of monolaurin. Our results were convenient with Brown-Skrobot et al. [
52] who revealed that the inhibition of beta-lactamase production can be attributed to the reduction in expression of the gene which encodes this protein (
blaZ), i.e., the prevention of transcription of the gene through inhibition of signal transduction by glycerol monolaurate ("GML").
There were relatively few treatment choices available because of the decreased effectiveness of recently developed antibiotics and the unfavorable modifications that arise from using "old" medications. Combinatorial therapy between antibiotics and other compounds (e.g., natural product-derived) is suggested as an effective approach to help in resolving the issue of antibiotic resistance, cellular toxicity and the need for long-term therapies with the current antibiotics [
53,
54]. In this present study, the combination of antibiotics with monolaurin was undertaken with the objective of enhancing their antibacterial efficacy, overcoming resistance, and diminishing both the cost and duration of antimicrobial therapy. As seen in Tables
2,
3,
4 and
5, there was a considerable reduction in the previous MICs when comparing the MIC values of antibiotic monotherapy and combination antibiotics with monolaurin.
The combinations were also investigated to assess their synergistic, indifferent, additive, or antagonistic effects through FICI determination. Employing 250 and 500 µg/ml of monolaurin in various combinations with antibiotics (ampicillin, amoxicillin, and piperacillin) against MRSA isolates demonstrated synergism rates of 97.1%, 97.1% and 88.4%, and in difference rates of 2.9% as well as 11.6%, respectively. For MSSA, combinations of 250 µg/ml monolaurin with antibiotics (ampicillin, amoxicillin, and piperacillin) demonstrated synergism rates of 100%, 100%, and 83.3%, respectively. Furthermore, combinations of 500 µg/ml monolaurin with antibiotics (ampicillin, amoxicillin, and piperacillin) exhibited synergism rates of 83.3% and in-differences of 16.7%, respectively. The time killing assay for monolaurin's antibacterial activity alone and in combination with antibiotics against
S.aureus was illustrated in Fig. 5. The results showed that monolaurin had synergistic activity and significantly reduced the bacterial count when compared with control. Our results were agreed with Preuss et al. [
55] who stated that monolaurin, alone or combined with antibiotics, might be useful in the prevention and treatment of severe bacterial infections, especially those that are antibiotic resistant. Previous reports have documented the synergistic benefits of natural products in combination with antibiotics against microbial pathogens [
56‐
58]. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that using multiple antimicrobials together can boost their antibacterial effects while also lowering the dosages of each antimicrobial that are needed [
59].
We have identified a new potential therapy against S.aureus consisting of a combination of clinically approved antibacterial drugs such as monolaurin and subclasses of β-lactam compounds, all targeting cell-wall synthesis: This treatment incorporates components from two different approaches: (i) combining drugs to increase antibiotic potency through synergy and (ii) use of combination to suppress resistance evolution.
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