Antimicrobial and Efflux Inhibitor Activity of Usnic Acid Against Mycobacterium abscessus

Abstract

New drugs are needed to treat infections with antimicrobial-resistant Mycobacterium abscessus; therefore, we evaluated usnic acid as an antimicrobial agent and efflux inhibitor (EI) against M. abscessus. Usnic acid showed antimicrobial activity, and synergistically, the EI verapamil increased this activity. In addition, when we evaluated the interaction of antimicrobials with usnic acid, the increase of their activity was observed. Finally, usnic acid showed an efflux inhibitory effect between the classical EIs verapamil and carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazine. In conclusion, usnic acid showed both antimicrobial and EI activity, indicating that this natural compound may be a promising scaffold for new drugs against this difficult-to-treat microorganism.