Antibacterial power of Pomegranate extracts against Beta-Lactamase producing Escherichia coli

Abstract

Herbs, as the pomegranate (Punica granatum L.)(P. granatum), has significant chemical constituents with distinct pharmacological properties. These chemicals confer neuroprotective, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties to the plant. Pomegranate has specific components that enable its pharmacological actions; one of the functions of pomegranate extracts is to deactivate what is called extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) that makes Escherichia coli (E. coli) resistant to standard antibiotics. Twenty E. coli strains identified as beta-lactamase producers, the strains isolated from urine samples collected from patients with symptomatic urinary tract infection (UTI) and molecularly characterised using 16S rDNA. The study evaluated the antibiotic sensitivity and antibacterial activities of acetone and ethanolic pomegranate leaf and peel extracts, assessing their antimicrobial susceptibility against nineteen antibiotics. The ehanolic peel (EP) and leave (EL) extracts showed inhibitory potential inhibition zones spanning (9.0-12.6-18.3 mm) against E. coli pathogen producing extended-spectrum beta-lactamase as compared with (10.2-15.3 mm) inhibition scale exhibited by acetone peel (AP) and leave (AL) extracts treatment. Pomegranate leaves and peel extracts contain bioactive compounds with antioxidant, antimicrobial, and other biological effects, and can be fractionated for the identification of new antibacterial bioactive compounds for the development of drugs against ESBL- E. coli, in addition to their synergy with antibiotics for combination therapy that may have effective management and treatment of multidrug-resistant infections such as urinary tract infection.