Effects of stigmata maydis on the methicillin resistantStaphylococus aureusbiofilm formation

Abstract

BackgroundMastitis is an inflammatory reaction of the mammary gland tissue, which causes huge losses to dairy farms throughout the world.Staphylococcus aureusis the most frequent agent associated with this disease.Staphylococcus aureusisolates, which have the ability to form biofilms, usually lead to chronic mastitis in dairy cows. Moreover, methicillin resistance of the bacteria further complicates the treatment of this disease. Stigmata maydis (corn silk), a traditional Chinese medicine, possess many biological activities.MethodsIn this study, we performed antibacterial activity assays, biofilm formation assays and real-time reverse transcription PCR experiments to investigate the effect of stigmata maydis (corn silk) on biofilm formation and vancomycin susceptibility of methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) strains isolated from dairy cows with mastitis.ResultsIn this study, the aqueous extracts of stigmata maydis inhibited the biofilm formation ability of MRSA strains and increased the vancomycin susceptibility of the strains under biofilm-cultured conditions.ConclusionThis study proves that the aqueous extracts of stigmata maydis inhibit the biofilm formation ability of MRSA strains and increase the vancomycin susceptibility of the MRSA strains under biofilm-cultured conditions.