Abstract
Globally, pathogenic microbes have reached a worrisome level of antibiotic resistance. Our work aims to identify and isolate the active components from the bioactive
bark extract and assess the potential synergistic activity of the most major compounds' constituents with the antibiotic tetracycline against certain pathogenic bacterial strains. The phytochemical screening of an acetone extract of
bark using column chromatography led to the identification of 10 phenolic components. The synergistic interaction of catechin and chlorogenic acid as the most major compounds with tetracycline was evaluated by checkerboard assay followed by time-kill assay, against
and
with fraction inhibitory concentration index values (FICI) of 0.38, 0.43, 0.38, 0.38, 0.38, and 0.75 for catechin and 0.38, 0.65, 0.38, 0.63, 0.38, and 0.75 for chlorogenic acid. The combination of catechin and chlorogenic acid with tetracycline significantly enhanced antibacterial action against gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms; therefore, catechin and chlorogenic acid combinations with tetracycline could be employed as innovative and safe antibiotics to combat microbial resistance.