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Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine >

2025 , Vol. 45 >Issue 6: 1283 - 1294

DOI: https://doi.org/10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2025.06.008

Original Articles

New approach to overcoming antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus aureus by combining Guanghuoxiang (Herba Pogostemonis) and Penicillin G Sodium treatments

  • Wenguang JING ,
  • Zhixia WANG ,
  • Wenmin PI ,
  • Haonan WU ,
  • Minghua LI ,
  • Penglong WANG ,
  • Xianlong CHENG ,
  • Feng WEI
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  • 1 National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing 100050, China
    2 School of Chinese Pharmacy, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 102488, China
    3 Faculty of Functional Food and Wine, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China
    4 National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing 100050, China
JING Wenguang and WANG Zhixia are co-first authors and contributed equally to this work

Received date: 2025-04-12

  Accepted date: 2025-08-25

  Online published: 2025-11-24

Supported by

State Key Laboratory of Drug Regulatory Science, Establishment of a Comprehensive Evaluation Method for the Quality of Chinese Medicinal Herbs Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. and Saposhnikovia divaricata (Turcz) Schischk., Suited to the Characteristics of Traditional Chinese Medicine(2023SKLDRS0101)

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Antibiotics are the main drugs used to treat bacterial infections, which have been extensively utilized across various fields. However, the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has greatly limited its use, leading to the creation of various superbugs such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), making antibiotics less effective, become a major global public health challenge. MRSA, which is resistant to most β-lactam and cephalosporin antibiotics, poses a significant threat to public health. Combination therapy has shown promise as a strategy to combat multi-drug-resistant bacteria. Chinese medicine also has potential applications in this field. Thus, we tried to find a new approach to overcoming MRSA by combining Chinese herb and penicillin G sodium (PGS).

METHODS: The antibacterial activity of Guanghuoxiang (Herba Pogostemonis) samples was investigated by turbidimetry. Then using the checkerboard assay, live/ dead bacterial staining and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate whether the combination of Guanghuoxiang (Herba Pogostemonis) samples and PGS could improve the sensitivity of MRSA, and metabolomics was used to investigate the underlying mechanisms.

RESULTS: In this study, we find that the Guanghuoxiang (Herba Pogostemonis) samples had good inhibitory effects on MRSA, and showed a synergistic effect when combined with PGS, enhancing the sensitivity of MRSA to PGS. Metabolomics data further revealed that this combination exerts a broader impact on the energy and material metabolism of the bacteria, resulting in improved antibacterial efficacy.

CONCLUSION: Combining Guanghuoxiang (Herba Pogostemonis) with antibiotics could improve the sensitivity of drug-resistant bacteria, provided a new direction for solving the problem of AMR, and offered a valuable strategy for clinical response to MRSA.

Key words： Guanghuoxiang (Herba Pogostemonis); Penicillin G sodium; MRSA; Combination therapy

Cite this article

Wenguang JING , Zhixia WANG , Wenmin PI , Haonan WU , Minghua LI , Penglong WANG , Xianlong CHENG , Feng WEI . New approach to overcoming antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus aureus by combining Guanghuoxiang (Herba Pogostemonis) and Penicillin G Sodium treatments[J]. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2025 , 45(6) : 1283 -1294 . DOI: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2025.06.008

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