Comparison of the antimicrobial and antivirulence activities of Sidr and Tualang honeys with Manuka honey against Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Honey is one of the oldest traditional remedies that has been widely utilized to cure a variety of human ailments. The objective of this research was to test and compare the antibacterial activity of Sidr honey (SH) and Tualang honey (TH) to that of Manuka honey (MH) against Staphylococcus aureus.
 Materials and Methods: The antibacterial activity of MH, SH and TH against S. aureus was investigated by agar well dif- fusion, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC), time-kill curve, microtiter plate and RT-qPCR analysis.
 Results: Agar inhibition assay showed that MH possess highest total antibacterial activity against S. aureus with an inhibi- tion zone 25.1 mm compared with that of SH (22.2 mm) and TH (21.3 mm). The findings showed that when compared to SH and TH (MIC: 25% and MBC: 50%), MH honey had the lowest MIC (12.5%) and MBC (25%). After S. aureus was exposed to MH, SH, and TH, there was a decrease in colony-forming unit as seen by the time-kill curve. The lowest concentration
 20% of MH, SH and TH was significantly found to inhibit S. aureus biofilm. The RT-qPCR results revealed that all the se- lected genes in S. aureus were downregulated in gene expression following exposure to each of the tested honeys. Comparing the total antibacterial, antibiofilm, and antivirulence activities of all the tested honeys, MH demonstrated the greatest levels of these properties.
 Conclusion: According to this study, various types of each evaluated honey have the capacity to effectively suppress and modify the virulence of S. aureus via a variety of molecular targets.

Manuka honey as a non-antibiotic alternative against Staphylococcus spp. and their small colony variant (SCVs) phenotypes

“…A recent 2023 study used RT-qPCR to evaluate the effect of MH in comparison to other honeys on S. aureus virulence. While all honeys tested in this study showed downregulation of the seven virulence genes investigated ( argF, purC, adh, scdA, pykA, menB and fabG ), MH assays showed the biggest changes (3.2-7.5 fold reduction) ( Al-Kafaween et al., 2023 ). Other studies exploring the effects of MH on staphylococcal virulence found changes in haemolysis and coagulase activity ( Mokhtar et al., 2020 ).…”

“…In addition, both demonstrated comparable efficacy against the tested Staphylococci, although variations in activity depending on test type (visual versus spectrophotometric analysis) and species were observed ( Tan et al., 2009 ). A different study comparing both MH and TH against S. aureus growth and virulence gene expression found that MH performed significantly better in both parameters than TH ( Al-Kafaween et al., 2023 ).…”

“…Other non-peroxide-based honeys from different botanical and geographical sources also exist and have been studied for their antibacterial capabilities. TH sourced from Malaysia has been compared alongside MH against both S. aureus and CNS ( Tan et al., 2009 ; Al-Kafaween et al., 2023 ). Both honeys maintained antibacterial properties following the addition of catalase, demonstrating their non-peroxide-based activity.…”