licochalcone-e and Hemolysis

Licochalcone E was firstly isolated from licorice root in 2005, which belongs to the retrochalcone family. Studies on the biological activities of licochalcone E were in the initial stage. In the study, we demonstrated that licochalcone E has potent antimicrobial property against Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, via hemolysis, Western blot, and real-time RT-PCR assays, we have shown that subinhibitory concentrations of licochalcone E dosedependently reduces the production of alpha-toxin in both methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillinresistant S. aureus (MRSA). The data suggest that licochalcone E may deserve further investigation as a potential therapeutic against S. aureus infections, or the structure of licochalcone E may be used as a basis for chemical synthesis of novel anti-S. aureus compounds.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacterial Toxins; Blotting, Western; Chalcones; Gene Expression Profiling; Glycyrrhiza; Hemolysin Proteins; Hemolysis; Plant Roots; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Staphylococcus aureus