Antibacterial activities of semipurified fractions of Quercus infectoria against enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 and its verocytotoxin production.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is one of the most important foodborne pathogens, causing nonbloody and bloody diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis, and hemolytic uremic syndrome. Use of antibiotics has been demonstrated to result in increased levels of verocytotoxin (VT) production as well as antibiotic resistance. Quercus infectoria was investigated for its antibacterial activity against E. coli O157:H7 and other VT-producing enterohemorrhagic E. coli (VTEC). The MIC was determined by a broth microdilution method, and the MBC was assessed by subculturing the bacteria from the wells that showed no apparent growth onto Mueller-Hinton agar. The fractions Qi2, Qi3, and Qi4 of Q. infectoria were demonstrated to possess good antibacterial activity, with MICs and MBCs ranging from 250 to 500 microg/ml. The effect of the effective fraction, Qi4, on the production of VT was determined using a reversed passive latex agglutination. The results indicate that at 20 h, fraction Qi4 markedly inhibits the release of VT1 and VT2 from VTEC cells at both inhibitory and subinhibitory concentrations. Furthermore, verotoxicity assay demonstrated that bacterial cultures treated with fraction Qi4 exerted less toxic effect on Vero cells. These in vitro results clearly indicate that the fraction Qi4 might constitute a promising natural food additive for the control of food poisoning by E. coli O157:H7 as well as other VTEC strains.