RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Uncovering the hidden antibiotic potential of Cannabis
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 833392
DO 10.1101/833392
A1 Maya A. Farha
A1 Omar M. El-Halfawy
A1 Robert T. Gale
A1 Craig R. MacNair
A1 Lindsey A. Carfrae
A1 Xiong Zhang
A1 Nicholas G. Jentsch
A1 Jakob Magolan
A1 Eric D. Brown
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/08/833392.abstract
AB The spread of antimicrobial resistance continues to be a priority health concern worldwide, necessitating exploration of alternative therapies. Cannabis sativa has long been known to contain antibacterial cannabinoids, but their potential to address antibiotic resistance has only been superficially investigated. Here, we show that cannabinoids exhibit antibacterial activity against MRSA, inhibit its ability to form biofilms and eradicate stationary phase cells persistent to antibiotics. We show that the mechanism of action of cannabigerol is through targeting the cytoplasmic membrane of Gram-positive bacteria and demonstrate in vivo efficacy of cannabigerol in a murine systemic infection model caused by MRSA. We also show that cannabinoids are effective against Gram-negative organisms whose outer membrane is permeabilized, where cannabigerol acts on the inner membrane. Finally, we demonstrate that cannabinoids work in combination with polymyxin B against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens, revealing the broad-spectrum therapeutic potential for cannabinoids.