Screening Bactericidal Action of Cytoplasm Extract from Kumazasa Bamboo (Sasa veitchii) Leaf against Antibiotics-

We aimed to develop a new treatment against antibiotic-resistant bacteria by focusing on cytoplasm of Kumazasa bamboo leaf. The cytoplasmic extract displays potent bactericidal action against Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococci and Streptococcus pneumoniae and also multi-antibiotic resistant MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and VRE (vancomycin-resistant Enterococci) strains. It induced bacteriolysis by firmly aggregating MSSA (methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus) and MRSA, and by lysis of VSE (vancomycin-susceptible Enterococci) and VRE. Clinical isolates of MRSA (30 strains in total) were susceptible to this extract, which gave MICs of Kumazasa-cytoplasmic extract ranging from 1.6 to 6.3%. The antibacterial action was bactericidal on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. A synergistic effect of this extract with ampicillin (ABPC) was obviously observed in all MRSA strains. The synergistic effect with vancomycin (VCM) was observed against VRE. The combination with clarithromycin (CAM) or tetracycline (TC) additively enhanced the antibacterial activity of CAM against CAM-susceptible Enterococci strains, and also that of TC against TC-resistant VRE strains. The present results should encourage research on antibacterial–hydrophilic ingredients derived from Kumazasa for use against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The combination of Kumazasa-cytoplasmic extract with a cell wall synthesis inhibitor (ABPC or VCM) will be a highly efficient treatment for infections caused by multidrug-resistant MRSA and VRE strains. *Corresponding author: Shoichi Shirotake, Department of Pharmaco-Therapeutics, Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Fuku’ura3-9, Knazawa-ku, Yokohama, 236-004, Japan, E-mail: [email protected] Received September 17, 2009; Accepted October 08, 2009; Published October 09, 2009 Citation: Shirotake S, Nakamura J, Kaneko A, Anabuki E, Shimizu N (2009) Screening Bactericidal Action of Cytoplasm Extract from Kumazasa Bamboo (Sasa veitchii) Leaf against Antibiotics-Resistant Pathogens such as MRSA and VRE Strains. J Bioequiv Availab 1: 080085. doi:10.4172/jbb.1000012 Copyright: © 2009 Shirotake S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.