Acupuncture News
News Archive
5-22-02
Chinese Herb May Be Tough-To-Beat Antibiotic
By Anne Harding
SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters Health) - Maryland researchers have uncovered clues to the therapeutic effects of an herb used in traditional Chinese medicine. And the findings, one of the researchers notes, suggest that microbes may be slow to develop resistance to the herb.
Rubricine, a bright red extract of the roots of the Arbenia euchroma plant, has been used in Asia for centuries as a dye and also to help heal wounds and treat burns. The extract contains six closely related compounds and appears to have antibacterial properties, explained Chi S. Chae, who studied the herb while she was a student at the University of Maryland in College Park. She presented her research Tuesday at the American Society for Microbiology's annual meeting.
Chae explained in an interview with Reuters Health that the compounds fight bacteria with a two-edged sword--both killing them and holding down bacterial growth. Most antibiotics have one, but not both, of these properties, she pointed out. And, she added, the components of rubricine appear to fight fungi as well. Tests showed rubricine was also effective against bacteria that were resistant to several antibiotics.
To begin to study how rubricine works, Chae hunted for mutant bacteria that would be resistant to it. But, she noted, such mutants did not develop readily, and it took her a year and a half to find one. And the mutants showed only partial resistance to rubricine.
This suggests that rubricine fights bacteria by a unique method, and that bacteria will not readily develop resistance to it, Chae said. "In the long run it will be more effective for a longer period of time," she said.
The next step, she adds, will be to find out how rubricine fights bacteria, using genetic analysis of the mutants and other techniques.
Chae's colleague Alma Arnold studied the mutagenicity and toxicity of rubricin and its components. Mutagenicity means the ability of a substance to cause genetic mutations in living things. She found that the rubricin compounds were not mutagenic, and were completely non-toxic. And in some cases they were able to blunt the action of other compounds that are mutagenic.
