Effects of a traditional Thai polyherbal medicine ‘Ya-Samarn-Phlae’ as a natural anti-biofilm agent against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract Ya-Samarn-Phlae (YaSP) is a traditional Thai polyherbal formula for the treatment of chronic wounds. Although its ethanol extract has been proven to possess several wound-related biological activities, there is no scientific information available for the infused oil of YaSP, which is its traditionally prepared form. This present study therefore aimed to evaluate the efficacy of different infused oils obtained from either fresh or oven-dried herbal parts of YaSP (F-YaSP and D-YaSP) against biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which reside in chronic wounds. Its main active herbal component, Garcinia mangostana (F-GM and D-GM), as well as α-mangostin were also tested in this study. All infused oils significantly inhibited the biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa with a percentage of reduction ranging from 50 to 90%. Visualization of the inhibition of biofilm development was confirmed using scanning electron and atomic force microscopes. All tested agents resulted in a reduction in the mean average roughness of the biofilm, whereas only treating with D-YaSP, D-GM, and α-mangostin led to a decrease in both peak height and peak-valley height. MTT reduction assays revealed that the metabolic activity of P. aeruginosa mature biofilms decreased considerably up to 50% after only 3 h of incubation and after only 9 h of exposure to D-YaSP. Confocal laser scanning micrographs illustrated that a maximum biofilm eradication was found when treated with the extracts for 3 h, whereas the biomass, the average thickness, maximum thickness, and the surface to volume ratio of the treated biofilm was reduced after up to 18 h of contact time. It can be concluded that D-YaSP can effectively inhibit biofilm formation and eradicate mature biofilms of P. aeruginosa . It should be noted that G. mangostana and α-mangostin contribute in YaSP as principle active agents for anti-biofilm efficacy.