A case study of the Ancientbiotics collaboration.

Interdisciplinary collaboration is regarded as a desirable way of researching and, in some instances, even a requirement for academic teams and funding proposals. This paper explores the possibilities, but also the problems, of collaboration between different disciplines through a case study of the Ancientbiotics team. This team explores the potential of natural products contained in historical medical recipes. The search for clinically useful natural products in unusual places, such as historical medical practices, is a well-established endeavor in the scientific disciplines. The Ancientbiotics collaboration, largely based across UK institutions, takes this path a step forward in combining modern scientific knowledge of natural products with expertise from humanities to identify ingredient combinations. After 7 years of practice, the research has produced a variety of outcomes. This perspective will explore how the team worked within an interdisciplinary framework to advance investigation and application of historical medical recipes.

An assessment of the evidence for antibacterial activity of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) extracts.

Stinging nettles (Urtica spp.) have been used in a diverse range of traditional and historical medicines from around the world for the treatment of skin diseases, wounds, urinary disorders, respiratory diseases, bone and joint pain, anaemia and other circulatory problems, as well as in cosmetic preparations for skin and haircare. As part of an interdisciplinary exploration of nettle-based remedies, we performed a systematic review of published evidence for the antimicrobial activity of Urtica spp. extracts against bacteria and fungi that commonly cause skin, soft tissue and respiratory infections. We focussed on studies in which minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assays of U. dioica were conducted on the common bacterial opportunistic pathogens Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus . No studies used fresh leaves (all were dried prior to use), and no studies prepared nettles in weak acid (corresponding to vinegar) or in fats/oils, which are common combinations in historical and traditional preparations. We addressed this gap by conducting new antibacterial tests of extracts of fresh U. dioica leaves prepared in vinegar, butter or olive oil against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus . Our systematic review and additional experimental data leads us to conclude that there is no strong evidence for nettles containing molecules with clinically useful antimicrobial activity. It seems most likely that the utility of nettles in traditional topical preparations for wounds may simply be as a 'safe' absorbent medium for keeping antibacterial (vinegar) or emollient (oils) ingredients at the treatment site.

The safety profile of Bald's eyesalve for the treatment of bacterial infections.

The rise in antimicrobial resistance has prompted the development of alternatives to combat bacterial infections. Bald's eyesalve, a remedy used in the Early Medieval period, has previously been shown to have efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus in in vitro and in vivo models of chronic wounds. However, the safety profile of Bald's eyesalve has not yet been demonstrated, and this is vital before testing in humans. Here, we determined the safety potential of Bald's eyesalve using in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo models representative of skin or eye infections. We also confirmed that Bald's eyesalve is active against an important eye pathogen, Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Low levels of cytotoxicity were observed in eyesalve-treated cell lines representative of skin and immune cells. Results from a bovine corneal opacity and permeability test demonstrated slight irritation to the cornea that resolved within 10 min. The slug mucosal irritation assay revealed that a low level of mucus was secreted by slugs indicating moderate mucosal irritation. We obtained promising results from mouse wound closure experiments; no visible signs of irritation or inflammation were observed. Our results suggest that Bald's eyesalve could be tested further on human volunteers to assess safety for topical application against bacterial infections.

Anti-biofilm efficacy of a medieval treatment for bacterial infection requires the combination of multiple ingredients.

Novel antimicrobials are urgently needed to combat drug-resistant bacteria and to overcome the inherent difficulties in treating biofilm-associated infections. Studying plants and other natural materials used in historical infection remedies may enable further discoveries to help fill the antibiotic discovery gap. We previously reconstructed a 1,000-year-old remedy containing onion, garlic, wine, and bile salts, known as 'Bald's eyesalve', and showed it had promising antibacterial activity. In this current paper, we have found this bactericidal activity extends to a range of Gram-negative and Gram-positive wound pathogens in planktonic culture and, crucially, that this activity is maintained against Acinetobacter baumannii, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus pyogenes in a soft-tissue wound biofilm model. While the presence of garlic in the mixture can explain the activity against planktonic cultures, garlic has no activity against biofilms. We have found the potent anti-biofilm activity of Bald's eyesalve cannot be attributed to a single ingredient and requires the combination of all ingredients to achieve full activity. Our work highlights the need to explore not only single compounds but also mixtures of natural products for treating biofilm infections and underlines the importance of working with biofilm models when exploring natural products for the anti-biofilm pipeline.