Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a pathogenic gram-negative bacteria causing life-threatening infections. In the current study, the antimicrobial activity of an aqueous extract of the fruiting bodies of Terfezia claveryi truffle against P aeruginosa was investigated in vitro and in vivo. In in vitro study, the antimicrobial of the extract was tested against three clinical strains of P aeruginosa (ATCC 14028, ATCC 27853 and ATCC 9027) at a concentration of 200mg/ml. In vivo study. The suspension of P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853, (5 mu l), containing 1.0 x 10(8) CFU, was topically applied onto the wounded rat corneas. The truffle extract was administered to infected rats as eye drops (1%) 24h post infection. In vitro study revealed that the extract showed an inhibitory effect on the growth of testing pathogen strains. The largest zone of inhibition (ZOI) was recorded against P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and confirmed by scanning electron microscope. In vivo study, the extract effectively ameliorated the biomarkers of cornea tissue damage including, malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and 8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) in infected rats compared with infected untreated ones. In conclusion, the current results may suggest the use of T claveryi aqueous extract to treat bacterial infection induced cornea inflammatory damage.