Researchers have discovered that the American beautyberry has compounds that can boost an antibiotic's activity against antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria. Experiments demonstrated that the plant compound works in combination with oxacillin to knock down the resistance to the drug of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.
The American Chemical Society's Infectious Diseases, scientists at Emory University and the University of Notre Dame have collaborated to publish their findings. The American beautyberry is native to the southern United States.
"We decided to investigate the chemical properties of the American beautyberry because it was an important medicinal plant for Native Americans," says Cassandra Quave, co-senior author of the study and an assistant professor in Emory University's Center for the Study of Human Health and Emory School of Medicine's Department of Dermatology. Quave is also a member of the Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center and a leader in the field of medical ethnobotany, studying how indigenous people incorporate plants in healing practices to uncover promising candidates for new drugs.
The research team’s next step is to test the combination of the beautyberry leaf extract and oxacillin as a therapy in animal models. If efficacy is demonstrated against MRSA infections, the researchers will synthesize the plant compound in the lab and optimize the chemical structure for a combination therapy with oxacillin.