ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF PROSTANORM® AGAINST THE UROPATHOGENS ISOLATED FROM PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC PROSTATITIS

Abstract

Background. ProstaNorm® (0.2 g tablets and liquid extract for oral administration) is a complex medication (dry and liquid) extracted from a mixture of medicinal plants (Hyperici herb, Canadian goldenrod herb, Glycyrrhiza roots, Echinacea purpurea rhizome and roots). It has been successfully used during the last 20 years for the treatment of chronic prostatitis (CP) (especially the abacterial form), CP-associated infertility (spermatopathy), and for the restoration of normal urination. Previous studies have already demonstrated good antimicrobial activity of ProstaNorm®, which enables its use in the treatment of chronic bacterial prostatitis (CBP), especially taking into account other well-known effects of the drug (anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity, improvement of the prostatic tissue microcirculation and sperm characteristics).Objective: to evaluate in vitro bacteriostatic activity of ProstaNorm® against uropathogens isolated from patients with urinary tract infections (mostly with CP).Materials and methods. The following strains of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and fungi were isolated from urine, prostatic fluid, and ejaculate of patients with urinary tract infections: Streptococcus haemolyticus (n = 10), Streptococcus aureus (n = 3), D-group Streptococcus (n = 5), Enterococcus faecalis (n = 4), Enterococcus faecium (n = 5), Escherichia coli (n = 4), Klebsiella pneumonia (n = 3), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 7), Candida albicans (n = 4), Candida glabrata (n = 2). We assessed antibacterial activity of ProstaNorm® (using the dilutions from 1:20 to 1:1280 of the initial 10% solution) against the isolated uropathogens.Results. We found that ProstaNorm® has a pronounced bacteriostatic effect against gram-negative bacteria (with the highest sensitivity shown by all Klebsiella pneumonia strains and 1 strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, when the microbial growth delay was 4.5–5.0 hours) and gram-positive bacteria (enterococci, hemolytic streptococci, and D-group streptococci). Additionally, the drug exhibits a bactericidal effect against some strains of gram-positive bacteria (three strains of streptococci). However, ProstaNorm® has no effect against Candida.Conclusion. Our results allow recommending ProstaNorm® for the treatment of chronic prostatitis accompanied by urinary tract infections.

Keywords

• prostanorm®
• uropathogens
• bacteriostatic effect
• chronic prostatitis
• in vitro