Roemerine Improves the Survival Rate of Septicemic BALB/c Mice by Increasing the Cell Membrane Permeability of Staphylococcus aureus

  • PLoS One. 2015 Nov 25;10(11):e0143863. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143863.
Sunjun Yin  1 ,  Gaoxiong Rao  2 ,  Jin Wang  3 ,  Liyang Luo  3 ,  Gonghao He  1 ,  Chengying Wang  2 ,  Chaoyu Ma  4 ,  Xiaoxing Luo  3 ,  Zheng Hou  3 ,  Guili Xu  1
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Pharmacy, Kunming General Hospital of Chengdu Military Region, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China.
  • 2. Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China.
  • 3. Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710032, China.
  • 4. Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China.
PMID: 26606133 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143863
Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most frequently occurring hospital- and community-associated pathogenic bacteria featuring high morbidity and mortality. The occurrence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) has increased persistently over the years. Therefore, developing novel anti-MRSA drugs to circumvent drug resistance of S. aureus is highly important. Roemerine, an aporphine alkaloid, has previously been reported to exhibit Antibacterial activity. The present study aimed to investigate whether roemerine can maintain these activities against S.aureus in vivo and further explore the underlying mechanism. We found that roemerine is effective in vitro against four S. aureus strains as well as in vivo against MRSA insepticemic BALB/c mice. Furthermore, roemerine was found to increase cell membrane permeability in a concentration-dependent manner. These findings suggest that roemerine may be developed as a promising compound for treating S. aureus, especially methicillin-resistant strains of these bacteria.

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