Abstract
Alkyl esters of six hydroxycinnamic acids, shown to be active antimicrobial agents when tested against Pseudomonas fluorescens, were further investigated for their effects against this organism. There was no statistically significant adaptation by this organism to either of the methyl esters of caffeic, rho-coumaric, cinnamic, or rho-hydroxybenzoic acids. Mixtures of these compounds taken two at a time gave at least additive effects, with some mixtures showing synergism. Preliminary work was also performed to determine the mode of inhibitory action for these compounds. The inhibition of oxygen utilization by the methyl esters correlated well with growth inhibition. Short-term lethality studies showed that none of the alkyl esters or methyl or propyl paraben produced any bacteriocidal effects. Oil-water partition coefficients were determined for these compounds and were shown to have no correlation with growth inhibitions. These all point to a specific mode of action, based in part on cellular energy depletion, rather than the nonspecific membrane-disrupting effects of other phenolic antimicrobial agents.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Bhattacharya J., Chaudhuri D. K. Isolation and characterisation of a crystalline antithiamine factor from mustard seed, Brassica juncea. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1974 Mar 20;343(1):211–214. doi: 10.1016/0304-4165(74)90253-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Eklund T. Inhibition of growth and uptake processes in bacteria by some chemical food preservatives. J Appl Bacteriol. 1980 Jun;48(3):423–432. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1980.tb01031.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Freese E., Sheu C. W., Galliers E. Function of lipophilic acids as antimicrobial food additives. Nature. 1973 Feb 2;241(5388):321–325. doi: 10.1038/241321a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Furr J. R., Russell A. D. Some factors influencing the activity of esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid against Serratia marcescens. Microbios. 1972 May-Jun;5(19):189–198. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gupta S. K., Banerjee A. B., Achari B. Isolation of Ethyl p-methoxycinnamate, the major antifungal principle of Curcumba zedoaria. Lloydia. 1976 Jul-Aug;39(4):218–222. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Noda M., Matsumoto M. Sinapic acid and methyl sinapate in rapeseed lipids. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1971 Feb 2;231(1):131–133. doi: 10.1016/0005-2760(71)90260-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]