(Newswire.net — March 28, 2020) — What makes antibiotic-resistant bacteria different?
The term “bacteria” refers to a species of single-celled microorganisms that often appear in different forms. These organisms are also of different types and are known to be capable of causing different diseases. They are usually classified as Gram-positve and Gram-negative bacteria. However, the majority of bacteria can be easily eliminated or curbed with the use of antibiotics.
Despite this fact, there are some antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are bacteria that are capable of withstanding the effects of antibiotics. In other words, the use of antibiotics cannot curb such microorganisms. The development of these bacteria is on the increase as a result of the abuse or misuse of antibiotics by a lot of people. Also, the poor understanding of how antibiotics work also contributes to the issues related to the increase in the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Therefore, the treatment options available for such bacteria are becoming less effective in many situations. In some cases, the treatments are completely ineffective. This has led to one of the most common and biggest health challenges around the world.
How do antibiotic-resistant bacteria grow?
The growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria occurs through various mechanisms, including:
- Development of instinctive or natural resistance to various types of bacteria
- Genetic mutation against the treatment options
- Development of resistance by a particular species from a pre-existing bacteria
Cannabidiol and antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Due to the various factors explained early, the likelihood of getting into a pre-antibiotic period seems to be a possibility that may happen soon. This means that there may be no antibiotics that can deal with several types of bacteria. Luckily, the knowledge of this possibility has caused many scientists to start looking at other alternative treatments for these bacteria. At this moment, other compounds are showing promises of being capable of reducing the effects of the microorganisms by boosting the efficacy of antibiotics significantly. One of these compounds is cannabidiol.
Cannabidiol, abbreviated as CBD, is a form of cannabinoid that is derived from the cannabis plant. This substance is a non-active ingredient that can be found in cannabis; therefore, taking it does not get you high. It is regarded as a stress-relieving substance that may be able to alleviate pains, anxiety, inflammation and a few other conditions. Also, many experts have suggested that this drug may play a pivotal role in treating several other conditions.
According to a team of researchers from the University of Southern Denmark, there are pieces of evidence that show the positive effect of the top cannabidiol strains on these antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The findings were published in a scientific journal known as Scientific Reports. The principal investigator and corresponding author of the study is Janne Kudsk Klitgaard while Ph.D. student Claes Søndergaard Wassmann is the first author.
As stated by the researchers, antibiotics were combined with cannabidiol during the study. This led to a stronger effect when compared to what they got when the bacteria were treated with only antibiotics. Therefore, during the study, they noted that to get rid of a particular number of bacteria, less amount of antibiotics were required.
They also noted that the cannabidiol used in the research was able to improve the efficacy of the antibiotic bacitracin against the bacteria known as Staphylococcus aureus. It is worthwhile to understand that Staphylococcus aureus is a primary human pathogen that often leads to disease that can be acquired in the hospital and community.
Sadly, there are clones of these bacteria that have developed resistance to several drugs. In a few countries, it is already challenging to treat infections caused by antibiotic-resistant infections. This issue tends to be even bigger and more problematic in the future.
These researchers have shown that combining antibiotics with cannabidiol may be the new treatment of antibiotic-resistant diseases.
In addition to the findings of these researchers in Denmark, researchers in Australia from the University of Queensland also found similar results. Australian researchers used CBD to combat different strains of these antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They found that the substance can kill most of the strains. According to the researchers, the antibiotic-resistant bacteria could not resist the CBD that was used for attacking them. Even after exposure to cannabidiol for 20 days, the bacteria still could not develop any form of resistance to the substance. It is worthwhile to note that bacteria only require 20 days to develop resistance to antibiotics.
Nevertheless, this Australian study discovered that CBD was not effective when used on some Gram-negative bacteria. This is mainly because Gram-negative bacteria naturally develop an outer membrane that makes it difficult for the many substances to get into their cell.
However, according to the study, Gram-positive bacteria were effectively killed by CBD. This finding further shows that there is still a lot of works to be done on whether CBD can be recommended for use against these bacteria.
Although the two studies were not conducted in the same place or manner, both have revealed that CBD may be able to play a key role in dealing with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. With time, pharmaceutical companies around the world may be able to manufacture drugs that will contain CBD and antibiotics that can alienate these bacteria effectively without any form of resistance.
How do the antibiotic-resistant bacteria die?
Based on the research, the combination of these two compounds made Staphylococcus aureus bacteria to experience three things:
- The normal division of the bacteria became impossible.
- The membrane of the bacteria began to be unstable.
- The expression of some important genes in the microorganisms was reduced drastically. Notably, these genes include autolysis and cell division genes.
Anti-resistance must come to an end
These researchers reiterated that the major cause of antibiotic resistance in various bacteria is the overuse of antibiotics.
Janne Kudsk Klitgaard concluded by saying that the combination of a helper compound like CBD with an antibiotic can boost the effects of the antibiotics. To ensure a similar effect, fewer antibiotics will be required for treatment. As a result of this, most resistant bacteria will not be able to survive.