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Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial

In the search for new therapeutic solutions to address an increasing number of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens, secondary metabolites from plants have proven to be a rich source of antimicrobial compounds. Ginkgo biloba, a tree native to China, has been spread around the world as an ornament...

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Autores principales: Chassagne, François, Huang, Xinyi, Lyles, James T., Quave, Cassandra L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478001/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31057504
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00775
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author Chassagne, François
Huang, Xinyi
Lyles, James T.
Quave, Cassandra L.
author_facet Chassagne, François
Huang, Xinyi
Lyles, James T.
Quave, Cassandra L.
author_sort Chassagne, François
collection PubMed
description In the search for new therapeutic solutions to address an increasing number of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens, secondary metabolites from plants have proven to be a rich source of antimicrobial compounds. Ginkgo biloba, a tree native to China, has been spread around the world as an ornamental tree. Its seeds have been used as snacks and medical materials in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), while over the last century its leaf extracts emerged as a source of rising pharmaceutical commerce related to brain health in Western medicine. Besides studies on the neuro-protective effects of Ginkgo, its antibacterial activities have gained more attention from researchers in the past decades, though its leaves were the main focus. We reviewed a 16th-century Chinese text, the Ben Cao Gang Mu by Li Shi-Zhen, to investigate the ancient prescription of Ginkgo seeds for skin infections. We performed antibacterial assays on various Ginkgo seed extracts against pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Cutibacterium acnes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Streptococcus pyogenes) relevant to skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). We demonstrate here that Ginkgo seed coats and immature seeds exhibit antibacterial activity against Gram-positive skin pathogens (C. acnes, S. aureus, and S. pyogenes), and thus validated its use in TCM. We also identified one compound tied to the antibacterial activity observed, ginkgolic acid C15:1, and examine its toxicity to human keratinocytes. These results highlight the relevance of ancient medical texts as leads for the discovery of natural products with antimicrobial activities.
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spelling pubmed-64780012019-05-03 Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial Chassagne, François Huang, Xinyi Lyles, James T. Quave, Cassandra L. Front Microbiol Microbiology In the search for new therapeutic solutions to address an increasing number of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens, secondary metabolites from plants have proven to be a rich source of antimicrobial compounds. Ginkgo biloba, a tree native to China, has been spread around the world as an ornamental tree. Its seeds have been used as snacks and medical materials in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), while over the last century its leaf extracts emerged as a source of rising pharmaceutical commerce related to brain health in Western medicine. Besides studies on the neuro-protective effects of Ginkgo, its antibacterial activities have gained more attention from researchers in the past decades, though its leaves were the main focus. We reviewed a 16th-century Chinese text, the Ben Cao Gang Mu by Li Shi-Zhen, to investigate the ancient prescription of Ginkgo seeds for skin infections. We performed antibacterial assays on various Ginkgo seed extracts against pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Cutibacterium acnes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Streptococcus pyogenes) relevant to skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). We demonstrate here that Ginkgo seed coats and immature seeds exhibit antibacterial activity against Gram-positive skin pathogens (C. acnes, S. aureus, and S. pyogenes), and thus validated its use in TCM. We also identified one compound tied to the antibacterial activity observed, ginkgolic acid C15:1, and examine its toxicity to human keratinocytes. These results highlight the relevance of ancient medical texts as leads for the discovery of natural products with antimicrobial activities. Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-04-16 /pmc/articles/PMC6478001/ /pubmed/31057504 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00775 Text en Copyright © 2019 Chassagne, Huang, Lyles and Quave. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Chassagne, François
Huang, Xinyi
Lyles, James T.
Quave, Cassandra L.
Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial
title Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial
title_full Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial
title_fullStr Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial
title_full_unstemmed Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial
title_short Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial
title_sort validation of a 16th century traditional chinese medicine use of ginkgo biloba as a topical antimicrobial
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478001/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31057504
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00775
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