ORIGINAL RESEARCH

A study of antimicrobial activity of polyphenols derived from wood

About authors

1 Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

2 Bakh Institute of Biochemistry, Research Center of Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

3 Kursk State University, Kursk

4 Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige, Italy

5 Kursk State Medical University, Kursk

6 Prof. Ivanov Kursk State Agricultural Academy, Kursk

7 Skryabin Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology, Moscow

8 Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune-and-Biological Products of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

Correspondence should be addressed: Alexei B. Shevelev
Gubkina 3, Moscow, 119991; moc.liamtoh@a_levehs

About paper

Funding: this work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Subsidy Contract No 14.616.21.0083 since July 17, 2017; ID RFMEFI61617X0083).

Received: 2018-06-13 Accepted: 2018-07-20 Published online: 2018-09-19
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Due to the spreading and increasing drug resistance of pathogens, the search for novel antibiotics is becoming ever more important. Plant-derived polyphenols are a vast and promising class of compounds with a potential to fight infectious diseases. Still, they are not routinely used in clinical practice. No reports on the in vivo studies of these compounds have been presented. The aim of our work was to compare the antimicrobial activity of resveratrol (stilbene), dihydroquercetin and dihydromyricetin (flavonols) extracted from the bark and wood of conifers against the dermatophytes Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans. Using the radial diffusion assay, we established that dihydroquercetin, resveratrol and dihydromyricetin exhibit high activity against S. aureus even at the smallest possible concentrations of 0.22, 0.15, and 0.15 mM, respectively. In contrast, the highest achievable concentrations of these compounds in the solutions (21.5, 15.5 and 15.0 mM for dihydroquercetin, resveratrol and dihydromyricetin, respectively) have no effect on the growth of P. aeruginosa and C. albicans. These findings suggest that polyphenols derived from conifers could have a potential to be used as a medicine for topical application to treat bacterial infections of the skin caused by S. aureus.

Keywords: antioxidants, polyphenols, flavonoid, stilbene, antimicrobial agents, resveratrol, antimicrobial activity, wood

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