Volume 2 • Issue 6 • 1000131 Clin Microbial ISSN: 2327-5073 CMO, an open access journal Open Access Ahmed et al., Clin Microbial 2013, 2:6 DOI: 10.4172/2327-5073.1000131 Open Access Clinical Microbiology: Open Access The Relationship between Bioactive Compounds with Diastase Activity and Antibacterial Synergy of Honey and Potato Starch Combinations against Klebsiella pneumonia Moussa Ahmed*, Baghdad Khiati, Saad Aissat Noureddine Djebli, Abdelmalek Meslem and Salima Bacha Pharmacognosy and Api-Phytotherapy Research Laboratory, Mostaganem University, Algeria Keywords: Algerian honey; Antibacterial activity; Potato starch; Synergism; Bioactive compounds; Diastase activity Introduction Klebsiella pneumoniae, an important human pathogen, is the most common cause for pneumonia, bacteremia, and septicemia, is also involved in urinary tract infections (UTI) [1] Treatment of K. pneumoniae infections has become increasingly difcult because of the predominance of multiple-antibiotic-resistant strains [2,3]. Antibiotic resistance has increased substantially in recent years and is posing an ever-increasing therapeutic problem [4,5]. Honey is a natural, nontoxic, and inexpensive product for the need of novel therapies against bacterial infections. Te clinical use of honey has an enormous potential, especially in the fght against antibiotic-resistant strains [5,6]. Several bioactive compounds have been identifed in honey which contributed to its antibacterial action. Te main factor is the high osmotic activity of honey, which does not allow bacterial growth [7]. Recent experimental fnding indicated that the amylase present in honey increases the osmotic efect in the media by increasing the amount of sugars and consequently increasing the antibacterial activity [8]. Honey contains small amounts of diferent enzymes, notably, diastase (α-and β -amylase), invertase (α-glucosidase), glucose-oxidase, catalase and acid phosphatase, which come from nectar sources, salivary fuids and the pharyngeal gland secretions of the honeybee [9]. Diastase is a natural enzyme of honey. Αlpha-amylase degrades starch to a mixture of the disaccharide maltose, the trisaccharide maltotriose and oligosaccharides known as dextrin’s [10]. Also phenolic compounds may contribute to antimicrobial activity [11]. Te inhibitory efects of polyphenols for α-amylases have attracted great interest among researchers [12,13]. In this study, we evaluated the antibacterial activity of 6 varieties of honey against K. pneumoniae and their combination with potato starch in correlation with diastase number (α- amylase), and Bioactive Compounds (total favonoid and polyphenol content). Materials and Methods Honey samples Six (n=6) commercial honeys of diferent foral sources and *Corresponding author: Moussa Ahmed, Pharmacognosy and Api-Phytotherapy Research Laboratory, Mostaganem University, Algeria, Tel: +213 65234059; Fax: +213 65234059; E-mail: moussa7014@yahoo.fr Received July 22, 2013; Accepted October 17, 2013; Published October 22, 2013 Citation: Ahmed M, Khiati B, Aissat S, Djebli N, Meslem A, et al. (2013) The Relationship between Bioactive Compounds with Diastase Activity and Antibacterial Synergy of Honey and Potato Starch Combinations against Klebsiella pneumonia. Clin Microbial 2: 131. doi: 10.4172/2327-5073.1000131 Copyright: © 2013 Ahmed M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Honey samples produced by Apismellifera, both uniforal and multiforal from different sources in Algeria were examined for their antibacterial capacity and their synergism with potato starch. An agar incorporation technique was used to assess the minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) and the minimum inhibition additive concentration (MIAC) of honey against K. pneumoniae ATCC 27736. The physicochemical properties, α-amylases activity, total phenolic and favonoid content, of six representative honey samples were determined. The MIC for the six varieties of honey without potato starch against K. pneumoniae ranged between 14% and 24% (v ⁄ v). When starch was incubated with honey and then added to media, an MIC drop was noticed with each variety and it ranged between 5.55 % and 16.66%.The total phenolic content of honey samples was between 1.50–108.21 mg GAE/100 g honey as gallic acid equivalent, total favonoid content varied from 5.41 to 9.94 mg Catechin/kg . Mean value for diastase was 16.55 ± 2.8 (range 7.3–23.5) expressed as diastase number in Gothe’sscale. No signifcant correlation was established between α-amylases activity and bioactive compounds. Honey: potato starch combinations show real potential for future use as a treatment for infections caused by K. pneumonia. geographical origins where purchased from local market and lef at room temperature until further analysis. Preparation of the stock starch solution Te stock starch solution was prepared by dissolving 0.5 g of dried soluble starch in deionised water in a volumetric fask. Afer heating and stirring the solution for approximately ten minutes, starch was completely dissolved, and the volumetric fask was flled with deionised water to the mark. Bacterial culture and inoculum preparation Pure culture of K. pneumonia 27736 was obtained from the Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Mostaganem University, Algeria. Te bacteria was grown on Nutrient Agar (NA; Merck Germany) slant, incubated at 37°C for 24 h, and kept at 4°C until further use. Bacterial suspension was prepared by inoculating one loopful of the 24-h-old bacterial colonies into 10.0 ml of sterilized distilled water. Te inoculums size was adjusted to match the turbidity of McFarland 0.5 scale (1×10 8 cells/ml) and diluted with sterilized distilled water to the inoculums size of 1×10 7 cells/ml. Diastase activity (Diastase number) Diastase activity was measured with Phadebas, according to the Harmonized Methods of the European Commission of Honey [14]. C l i n i c a l M i c r o b i o l o g y : O p e n A c c e s s ISSN: 2327-5073 Editorial