Molecular Docking and Antibacterial Activity of Campesterol Derivatives Against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa multiresistant strains

This work describes the evaluation the potentiating activity of antibiotics by campesterol (1) and its derivatives (2–11) against multiresistant strains of Staphylococcusaureus 10, Escherichia coli 06 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 24 employing the microdilution test. When subjected to the in vitro potentiating activity bioassay, all compounds showed a potentiating effect associated with norfloxacin against E. coli and P. aeruginosa with a reduction in the MIC of the antibiotic of up to 75%. These compounds also reduced the MIC of gentamicin by 37% to 87% in S. aureus and E. coli. Additionally, molecular docking studies were conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the interactions between the appropriate proteins and the most effective compounds (2, 4, 9, and 10 against E. coli; 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 9 against S. aureus), including antibiotics. This paper registers for the first time the in vitro and in silico studies on the action of compounds 1‐11 in antibiotic potentiation.