The combination effect of curcumin with different antibiotics against Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

The different investigation has been carried out on the biological activities of curcumin but the effect of this natural product on the
antibacterial activity of different antibiotics has not been demonstrated. In this study the enhancement effect of curcumin on the antibacterial activity of different antibiotics was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus. Disk diffusion method was used to determine the antibacterial activity of these antibiotics in the absence and presence of sub inhibitory concentration of curcumin. A clinical isolate of S. aureus was used as test strain. In the presence of sub-inhibitory concentration of curcumin (500 μg/disc) the antibacterial activities of cefixime, cephotaxime, vancomycin and tetracycline have been increased against test strain. The highest fold increase in area was observed for cefixime against S. aureus (a 52.6 % increase in inhibition zone surface area). Also the increases in inhibition zone areas (%) for cephotaxime, vancomycin and tetracycline were 24.9%, 26.5% and 24.4%, respectively. No enhancing effect on the
antibacterial activities of others antibiotics was detected against S. aureus at content of 500μg/disc. Conversely, in case of nalidixic acid, curcumin showed an antagonistic effect on the antibacterial activity of this antibiotic against test strain. These results signify that the curcumin potentiates the antimicrobial action of cefixime, cephotaxime, vancomycin and tetracycline suggesting a possible utilization of this edible compound in combination therapy against S. aureus.
Key words: Antibacterial activity, combination effect, Staphylococcus aureus, curcumin