A team of scientists from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University is investigating phytochemicals derived from cruciferous vegetables like Broccoli that break down the biofilm that protects them from being eradicated by antibiotics.
According to health experts, the rising menace of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens has led to an increase in illness and prevention of wound healing, especially in hospitals.
According to scientists, although more pathogens have developed biofilms that protect them from being eradicated by antibiotics, fewer classes of antibiotics that can attack such microbes are being developed.
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The researchers from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev decided to go in a different direction and investigated a phytochemical derived from cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli that breaks down the biofilm.
“Phytochemicals are chemical compounds made by plants. The phytochemical 3,3′-diindolylmethane (DIM) successfully broke down the biofilms protecting two different important pathogens including Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa – enabling their eradication 65% and 70% of the time, respectively. Combined with antibiotics, that number jumped to 94,” the scientists said in a statement on Monday.
Meanwhile, Prof. Ariel Kushmaro, Dr. Karina Golberg, and his team together with Prof. Robert Marks, and members of the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering at BGU chronicled their findings in the peer-reviewed journal Pharmaceutics recently. Additionally, when they introduced DIM into an infected wound, it sped up the healing process significantly, the team found.
“Our findings show promise for other avenues of research in addition to known classes of antibiotics,” Prof. Kushmaro stated on Monday.
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Moreover, at present more in-depth development and commercialisation of the research are being undertaken at a startup, LifeMatters. Additional researchers from Prof. Kushmaro’s lab included: Bat-el Kagan, Sigalit Barzanizan, Dr. Karin Yaniv, and Dr. Esti Kramarsky-Winter. The research was supported by the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev and Israel’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
According to Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), antimicrobial resistance happens when germs like bacteria and fungi develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. Consequently, the germs are not killed and continue to grow. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that antibiotic resistance leads to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays, and increased mortality and it is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world.
