Antibiotics save lives every day, but
there is a downside to their ubiquity. High doses can kill healthy cells along
with infection-causing bacteria, while also spurring the creation of
"superbugs" that no longer respond to known antibiotics. Now,
researchers may have found a natural way to cut down on antibiotic use without
sacrificing health: a maple syrup extract that dramatically increases the
potency of these medicines.
To figure out how the extract makes
antibiotics work better, the researchers investigated whether the extract
changed the permeability of bacterial cells. The extract increased the
permeability of the bacteria, suggesting that it helps antibiotics gain access
to the interior of bacterial cells. Another experiment suggested that the
extract may work by a second mechanism as well, disabling the bacterial pump
that normally removes antibiotics from these cells.
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Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle
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Pharmaceutical Microbiology