Investigating Ghanaian <i>Allium</i> Species for Anti-Infective and Resistance-Reversal Natural Product Leads to Mitigate Multidrug-Resistance in Tuberculosis
Cynthia Amaning Danquah,
Michael Tetteh,
Isaac Kingsley Amponsah,
Abraham Yeboah Mensah,
Kwame Ohene Buabeng,
Simon Gibbons,
Sanjib Bhakta
Affiliations
Cynthia Amaning Danquah
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), PMB, Kumasi, Ghana
Michael Tetteh
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), PMB, Kumasi, Ghana
Isaac Kingsley Amponsah
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, KNUST, PMB, Kumasi, Ghana
Abraham Yeboah Mensah
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, KNUST, PMB, Kumasi, Ghana
Kwame Ohene Buabeng
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, KNUST, PMB, Kumasi, Ghana
Simon Gibbons
Norwich Research Park, School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
Sanjib Bhakta
Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK
The bulbs of Allium species are a known source of antibacterial phytochemicals. Anti-infective, efflux pump and biofilm inhibitory activities of bulb extracts of selected Ghanaian shallots Allium cepa var aggregatum were evaluated using the HT-SPOTi assay and other whole-cell phenotypic screening techniques to determine their possible mechanisms of action. Ethanol and aqueous extracts of white A. cepa inhibited the growth of Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 and Escherichia coli, respectively. The majority of the Allium extracts significantly (p A. cepa and the aqueous extract of the white A. cepa significantly inhibited M. smegmatis biofilm formation. For Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the inhibition was observed at 250 µg/mL for the aqueous extract (~77.34%) and 125 µg/mL for the hexane extract (~76.51%). The results suggest that Ghanaian shallots could potentially be useful when further developed to tackle antimicrobial resistance, particularly in tuberculosis (TB).
