Synergistic effect of maple syrup extract and common antibiotics

According to a new study from McGill University, phenol rich extracts from maple syrup can make pathogenic bacteria more susceptible to common antibiotics "Native Canadians have long used maple syrup to fight infection "I've always been interested in the science behind these folk drugs," said lead author Dr Nathalie tufenkji, lead researcher in the laboratory of biocolloids and surfaces, Department of chemical engineering, McGill University When Dr tufenkji had been studying the antibacterial effect of cranberry extract, and understood the anti-cancer characteristics of phenolic maple syrup extract, the idea of this project really solidified "It gave me the idea of checking its antibacterial activity," she said Dr tufenkji and his collaborators isolated sugar and water from the syrup's phenolic compounds, which helped the maple syrup's signature golden hue In the initial tests, they exposed several bacterial strains that caused the disease to the extract, but they did not see much impact Instead of giving up maple syrup altogether, they decided to examine whether the extract would enhance the antibacterial activity of the commonly used antibiotics ciprofloxacin and carboxybenzylpenicillin When the team mixed phenolic extracts with any of these drugs, they did find synergistic effects, making them have the same antibacterial effect, reducing antibiotics by more than 90% This method is suitable for all kinds of bacterial strains "Our tests showed that the phenolic rich extract from maple syrup - obtained by solvent extraction from commercial maple syrup - greatly promoted the use of commonly used antibiotics, ciprofloxacin and carboxybenzylpenicillin, killing gram-negative clinical strains of E.coli, Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa," the authors explained On the basis of this work, the scientists next tested the extracts of fruit flies and moth larvae They gave flying food pathogens and antibiotics with and without phenolic extracts Flies fed with maple syrup extract have a longer life than flies that refuse the top layer of syrup The researchers observed similar results to moth larvae In order to find out how the extracts make antibiotics work better, the authors studied whether the extracts changed the permeability of bacterial cells The extract increases bacterial permeability, which indicates that it helps antibiotics to enter bacterial cells Another experiment has shown that the extract can also work through a second mechanism, invalidating the bacterial pump that normally removes antibiotics from these cells Currently, the team is testing the maple syrup extract in mice "Although it may take several years for patients to be used as a prescribed medical program, and pharmaceutical companies may need to further purify the extract to avoid any potential allergic reactions, I hope it may have advantages due to its source, other possible drugs," tufenkji said "There are other products that can increase the strength of antibiotics, but this may be the only product from nature."