Short communicationIn vitro enhancement of antibiotic susceptibility of drug resistant Escherichia coli by cinnamaldehyde

- Cinnamaldehyde acted synergistically with erythromycin and novobiocin.
- Not all strains of E. coli were affected similarly by the agent combinations.
- Cinnamaldehyde did not increase the sensitivity of E. coli strains to bacitracin.

Cinnamaldehyde is a natural antimicrobial compound that has been found to damage the cytoplasmic membrane, inhibit septum development and cause cell elongation, as well as induce oxidative stress in Escherichia coli. Thus, cinnamaldehyde may be of value as a natural compound to enhance susceptibility of drug resistant E. coli to antibiotics in livestock production. This study examined the ability of cinnamaldehyde to increase the susceptibility of E. coli to antibiotics using the checkerboard method. Interactions between the antimicrobials were characterized using fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) values. All tested E. coli strains were resistant to erythromycin and bacitracin but were susceptible to penicillin G and ampicillin. Strains 8WT, ATCC 23739 and 02:0627 were resistant to novobiocin and the latter two strains were also resistant to tetracycline. Cinnamaldehyde synergistically increased the susceptibility of all E. coli strains to erythromycin (FIC ≤ 0.5). Another synergistic effect between tetracycline and cinnamaldehyde was observed when tested against E. coli ATCC 23739 (FIC = 0.3). Cinnamaldehyde synergistically and additively reduced the MIC of novobiocin when tested against ATCC 23739 and 02:0627 (FIC ≤ 0.5) or 8WT (FIC = 1), respectively, suggesting that E. coli strains may respond differently to challenge by the cinnamaldehyde-novobiocin combination. With all strains, cinnamaldehyde was not effective at reducing the MIC value of bacitracin. Findings of this study suggest that cinnamaldehyde may be used in combination with several antibiotics to enhance susceptibility of drug resistant E. coli.