title: Menthol diminishes Staphylococcus aureus virulence-associated extracellular proteins expression.
abstract: Staphylococcus aureus is a significant human pathogen that is the major cause of a broad spectrum of illnesses, ranging from minor skin infections to life-threatening deep tissue infections and toxinosis. The ability of the organism to cause such a broad range of infections is, to a great extent, attributed to the secretion of a myriad of virulence-related extracellular proteins. Therefore, virulence as a target for antimicrobial chemotherapy has gained great interest. Menthol is a monocyclic terpene alcohol that occurs naturally in plants of the Mentha species lacking anti-S. aureus activity. In this paper, we demonstrate via hemolytic activity assays, tumor necrosis factor release assays, Western blot assays, and real-time reverse transcription-PCR assays that low concentrations of menthol can markedly inhibit the expression of α-hemolysin, enterotoxins A and B, and toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 in S. aureus. Our results indicate that menthol may be useful in managing S. aureus infections when used in combination with β-lactam antibiotics, which can often increase S. aureus toxin secretion when used at subinhibitory concentrations. In addition, the menthol basic structure has potential applications in the development of new anti-virulence drugs.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Ministry of Education, Institute of Zoonosis, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Xi'an Road 5333, Changchun 130062, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiazhang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Mingjing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Jianfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hongen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaoliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yanhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Haihua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Xuming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Deng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D006461:Hemolysis; D008297:Male; D008610:Menthol / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011817:Rabbits; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018089:Superantigens; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D018089:Superantigens; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; C030107:enterotoxin F, Staphylococcal; C021091:staphylococcal alpha-toxin; D008610:Menthol; C026066:enterotoxin A, Staphylococcal; C031818:enterotoxin B, staphylococcal