Medicinal plant extracts variously modulate susceptibility of Escherichia coli to different antibiotics.

Antioxidant activity of green and black tea and extracts of medicinal plants and their ability to modulate antibiotic susceptibility in Escherichia coli were studied. Among a number of extracts tested the maximal capacity to scavenge DPPH radicals and chelate iron in chemical tests was found in green and black tea, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi and Vaccinium vitis-idaea. These extracts contained high level of polyphenols and in aerobic conditions exhibited prooxidant features, producing H2O2 and inducing expression of the katG gene encoding catalase HPI in E. coli cells. A good correlation between the polyphenol content and the ability of extracts to protect bacteria against peroxide stress was observed (r = 0.88). Polyphenol-rich extracts and iron chelators demonstrated the highest modulating effect on the antibiotic susceptibility by changing the time period before lysis started and by influencing the colony-forming ability of bacteria. The direction of the modulating effect was dependent on nature of antibiotic applied: under treatment with ciprofloxacin and ampicillin the extracts predominantly provided protective effects, while under treatment with kanamycin a bactericidal action was enhanced. Mechanism of modulating action of extracts on bacterial antibiotic susceptibility probably involves antioxidant, preferentially iron-chelating, or prooxidant properties of polyphenols.