While we regularly wonder about the benefits of green tea, English scientists assure that it would eliminate bacteria resistant to antibiotics thanks to its high content of epigallocatechin, an antioxidant.
Decidedly, green tea has not finished talking about him. Recently, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) published reports assuring that the positive effects of green tea on health were far too overstated and that it had no anti-aging power. -cancer, neither in prevention nor in treatment. It has also not been seriously proven that this beverage increases the effectiveness of drugs, assured the experts. Now, however, scientists from the University of Surrey (UK) show that it could help eliminate bacteria resistant to antibiotics thanks to its high content of epigallocatechin, an antioxidant. The study appeared in the Journal of Medical Microbiology.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers focused on epigallocatechin (EGCG) and aztreonam, which are regularly used to treat infections caused by the pathogenic bacteria. Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In recent years, it has become resistant to many classes of antibiotics. Also, if we now combine several antibiotics to overcome these infections, they are increasingly difficult to treat.
During their study, the researchers performed in vitro tests to analyze how EGCG and aztreonam interacted with P. aeruginosa, individually and in combination. They found that the combination was much more effective in reducing the number of pathogenic bacteria than the two agents alone.
EGCG may facilitate increased absorption of aztreonam
By studying this synergistic activity on moth larvae, they were also able to observe that survival rates were higher in animals treated with this combination than in those treated with EGG or aztreonam alone. Furthermore, minimal or no toxicity was observed in human skin cells and in the larvae in question.
Thus, at P. aeruginosa, EGCG may facilitate increased absorption of aztreonam by increasing the permeability of bacteria, the researchers suggest. They also suggest a possible interference of EGCG in a biochemical pathway linked to antibiotic sensitivity.
“Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious threat to global public health. Without effective antibiotics, the success of medical treatments will be compromised. There is an urgent need to develop new antibiotics in the fight against AMR. Natural products such as EGCG, used in combination with currently licensed antibiotics, may be a way to improve their efficacy and clinically useful lifespan,” says Dr. Jonathan Betts, Principal Investigator at the University’s School of Veterinary Medicine. of Surrey, lead author of the study.
Combine natural products and antibiotics already used
“The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistant to antibiotics as a critical threat to human health. We have shown that we can successfully eliminate such threats through the use of natural products, in combination with already used antibiotics. The development of these alternatives could allow their use in clinical settings in the future,” said Professor Roberto La Ragione, Head of the Department of Pathology and Infectious Diseases at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Surrey. .
In recent years, antibiotic resistance has become a real public health issue. In 2014, in a surveillance report carried out on 114 countries, the WHO drew up an alarming observation: mild infections could kill again for lack of effective antibiotics. Many studies are therefore regularly conducted on the subject.
This summer, researchers at the University of North Carolina in the United States have shown that modifying an existing drug could make it possible to develop a stronger product capable of attacking antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
.
