‎Yusra Y. Agha

Abstract

Uropathogens use many mechanisms for survival in stresses in the bladder such as starvation and immune responses. Through biofilms and undergoing morphological changes, they could persist and cause infections. Numerous uropathogens were encoded in variable ranges of virulence factors/antimicrobial resistance separation. Increased rates for UTIs suggested where antibiotics do not have a therapeutic effect. Therefore, using oils as new alternatives to antibiotics is recommended because of their diverse and nontoxic effect. In this study, antimicrobial and biofilm inhibition and anti-swarming potential of essential oils (cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus, garlic, pomegranate, and tea tree oils) were assessed against four gram-negative uropathogenic bacteria (Proteus, Aeromonas, and two Pseudomonas isolates) in vitro. Results showed that among the oils tested, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and tea tree oil demonstrated antibacterial activity, while garlic and pomegranate had little or no effect in inhibiting the bacteria studied. By using two antibiofilm screening assays, tube, and tissue culture plate methods, all oils presented potent antibiofilm activity at different concentrations against all bacteria used in the present work. Cinnamon and eucalyptus oils not only exhibited antibacterial and antibiofilm activity but also clearly showed an anti-swarming effect. Therefore, essential oils might be considered as one of the sources for new antimicrobial agents and could be used for synergy with synthetic antibiotics‎.