Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39013998›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2024

Thymoquinone' potent impairment of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus NorA efflux pump activity.

Adel Attia M Ahmad, Sara Y Abdelgalil, Tarek Khamis, Ashraf M O Abdelwahab, Dina Nader Atwa, Gamal A Elmowalid

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Exploring the Multifaceted Phytochemical Profile ofPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Screening ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Thymoquinone/β-Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025
    Article
  10. Efflux pumps: gatekeepers of antibiotic resistance inMicrobial cell (Graz, Austria) · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Adel Attia M AhmadDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt. AAAhmmad@Vet.ZU.edu.eg.
Sara Y AbdelgalilDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
Tarek KhamisDepartment of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
Ashraf M O AbdelwahabDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
Dina Nader AtwaDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
Gamal A ElmowalidDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The drug efflux pump is a crucial mechanism implicated in resistance to multiple antimicrobials. Thymoquinone (TQ) has evidently demonstrated multiple activities, antibacterial being the most effective. Knowledge about TQ activity against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is very scarce. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate TQ resistance modulation in ciprofloxacin (CIP) and doxycycline (DO) multidrug-resistant S. aureus. Forty-seven samples were collected from different sources, and S. aureus was isolated and identified. Then, S. aureus resistance profiles to antimicrobials, N. sativa essential oil, and TQ; the correlation between TQ-MIC readings and disc diffusion; cartwheel and ethidium bromide (EtBr) accumulation assays; and norA gene expression were all described within silico molecular docking for TQ interactions with norA efflux pump protein. TQ-MICs ranged from 5-320 µg/ml. TQ down-regulated norA gene expression, resulting in a drop in efflux pump activity of 77.5-90.6% in the examined strains, comparable to that observed with verapamil. Exposure of S. aureus strains to CIP and DO raises the initial basal efflux pumping expression to 34.2 and 22.9 times, respectively. This induced efflux pumping overexpression was substantially reduced by 97.7% when TQ was combined with CIP or DO. There was a significant reduction of MICs of CIP and DO MICs by 2-15 and 2-4 folds, respectively, after treatment with 0.5XMIC-TQ in resistance modulation assays. These results refer to TQ ligand inhibitory interactions with NorA protein in molecular docking. Interpretations of inhibition zone diameters (IZDs) of disc diffusion and TQ-MICs exhibit independence of MICs from IZDs, as indicated by invalid linear regression analysis. TQ significantly reduced efflux pumping S. aureus induced by CIP and DO, but further investigations are needed to improve TQ-pharmacokinetics to restore CIP and DO activity and suppress fluoroquinolone and doxycycline-resistant S. aureus selection in clinical and animal settings.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C ProteinsBacterial ProteinsBenzoquinonesCiprofloxacinDrug Resistance, Multiple, BacterialMicrobial Sensitivity TestsMolecular Docking SimulationStaphylococcus aureusDoxycyclineGene Expression Regulation, BacterialAnti-Bacterial AgentsATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C ProteinsBacterial ProteinsBenzoquinonesCiprofloxacinDoxycyclineNorA protein, StaphylococcusthymoquinoneCiprofloxacinDoxycillinEfflux pump inhibitorStaphylococcus aureusThymoquinone

Identifiers

PMID39013998
PMCPMC11252345

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.