Molecules (Jun 2011)

Flavonoids from Praxelis clematidea R.M. King and Robinson Modulate Bacterial Drug Resistance

  • José Maria Barbosa-Filho,
  • Marcelo Sobral da Silva,
  • Luis Cezar Rodrigues,
  • José Pinto de Siqueira-Júnior,
  • Josean Fechine Tavares,
  • João Xavier de Araújo-Júnior,
  • Pedro Gregório Vieira Aquino,
  • Vivyanne dos Santos Falcão-Silva,
  • Gabriela Lemos de Azevedo Maia

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules16064828
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 6
pp. 4828 – 4835

Abstract

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Chemical studies of Praxelis clematidea R.M. King & Robinson resulted in the isolation of six flavones: Apigenine, genkwanine, 7,4’-dimethylapigenin, trimethylapigenin,cirsimaritin and tetramethylscutellarein, which were tested for their toxicity against Staphylococcus aureus SA-1199B, a strain possessing the NorA efflux pump. Efflux pumps are integral proteins of the bacterial membrane and are recognized as one of the main causes of bacterial drug resistance, since they expel antibiotics from the cell. The inhibition of this transporter is one form of modulating bacterial resistance to antimicrobial drugs. The flavones tested did not show any significant antibacterial activity against the Staphylococcus aureus strain used, but were able to modulate bacterial drug resistance. This property might be related to the degree of lipophilicity of the flavones conferred by the methoxyl groups, since 4’,5,6,7 tetramethoxyflavone the most methoxylated compound, reduced the minimal inhibitory concentration of the drug 16-fold.

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