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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Infectious Diseases
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1491363
This article is part of the Research Topic Treatment of Infectious Diseases with Bioactive Compounds from Medicinal Plants: Their Mechanisms and Applications - Volume II View all 3 articles

Natural Compounds in the Fight Against Staphylococcus aureus Biofilms: A Review of Antibiofilm Strategies

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran
  • 2 Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
  • 3 Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Hamadan, Iran

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen due to its ability to form strong biofilms and antibiotic resistance. Biofilms play an important role in bacterial survival against the host immune system and antibiotics. Natural compounds (NCs) have diverse bioactive properties with a low probability of resistance, making them promising candidates for biofilm control. NC such as curcumin, cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, eugenol, thymol, citral, linalool, coumarin, 1,8-cineole, pinene, cymene, terpineol, quercetin, and limonene have been widely utilized for the inhibition and destruction of S. aureus biofilms. NCs influence biofilm formation through several procedures. Some of the antibiofilm mechanisms of NCs are direct bactericidal effect, disrupting the quorum sensing system, preventing bacteria from aggregation and attachment to surfaces, reducing the microbial surface components recognizing adhesive matrix molecules (MSCRAMMs), interfering with sortase A enzyme, and altering the expression of biofilm-associated genes such as icaADBC, agr, and sarA. Furthermore, these compounds affect extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and their components, such as polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA) and eDNA. However, some disadvantages, such as low water solubility and bioavailability, limit their clinical usage. Therefore, scientists have considered using nanotechnology and drug platforms to improve NC's efficacy. Some NC, such as thymol and curcumin, can also enhance photodynamic therapy against S. aurous biofilm community. This article evaluates the anti-biofilm potential of NC, their mechanisms of action against S. aureus biofilms, and various aspects of their application.

    Keywords: S. aureus, Biofilm, natural compounds, Curcumin, Cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, Eugenol, Thymol

    Received: 04 Sep 2024; Accepted: 08 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kashi, Noei, Chegini and Shariati. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zahra Chegini, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Hamadan, Iran
    Aref Shariati, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.