Antibacterial Mechanism of Emodin on Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Emodin is an effective bactericide.The antibacterial mechanism was carried out by determining membrane penetrability,the change of protein synthesis on Staphylococcus aureus,and the change of oxidative respiratory metabolism on bacteria.The results showed that electrical conductivity was increased by 2.23% with emodin than that in the control.The number of large molecules was increased by 67.36% than that in the control.After treated with emodin for 16 hours,the total content of proteins was decreased by 28.3% on Staphylococcus aureus.With emodin,inhibition rates of activities for succinate dehydrogenase(SDH) and malate dehydrogenase(MDH) were by 53.8% and by 25.5%,respectively.These results indicated that emodin could damage bacterial membrane,and inhibit protein synthesis of Staphylococcus aureus,and inhibited activity of SDH and MDH on oxidative respiratory regulation.