ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1578322
Exploring the Additive Antibacterial Potential of Cinnamomum cassia Volatile Oil and Imipenem against Acinetobacter baumannii: A Multi-Omics Investigation
Provisionally accepted
- 1Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, Ningxia, China
- 2Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Anhui Province, China
- 3General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Region, China
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Acinetobacter baumannii has been assigned as a critical pathogen which new antibiotics are urgently needed. Volatile oils, as natural antibacterial agents, may act as an effective method for inhibiting A. baumannii. However, the antibacterial activity and mechanism of volatile oil derived from the dried bark of Cinnamomum cassia (CBV) and its additive effect combined with imipenem (IPM) against A. baumannii remains unclear. GC-MS was used to analysis the chemicals of CBV. Checkerboard assay and Time-killing analysis was used to evaluate the synergistic effect of CBV and IPM against A. baumannii. Crystal violet staining assay, SYTO 9-PI double staining, SEM analysis, and intracellular protein content were used to evaluate the antibiofilm activity and cell membrane integrity. Additionally, the antibacterial mechanism was elucidated using an approach combining transcriptomic and proteomic. An additive effect (FICI=0.53) was observed when combining CBV and IPM against A. baumannii, and the MIC of IPM was reduced from 256 μg/mL to 4 μg/mL. CBV and IPM inhibited biofilm formation, damaged the cell membrane, and caused intracellular protein leakage in A. baumannii. Compared to using CBV or IPM alone, the combined group (at the additive-effective dosage) causing significantly greater damage to the cell membrane of A. baumannii. CBV and IPM induced significant changes at both transcriptomic and proteomic levels in A. baumannii. Functional analysis revealed that these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and proteins (DEPs) were involved in multiple pathways. Both CBV and IPM contributed to the antibacterial activity. CBV has mainly influenced ribosome pathway, while IPM has mainly influenced oxidative phosphorylation. In the combination treatment, targeting the ribosome and oxidative phosphorylation was the key mechanism of antibacterial activity. This study provided an insight that CBV and IPM combination showed promising antimicrobial properties against A. baumannii, suggesting that CBV may be a natural potential candidate for development of new antibiotic agents.
Keywords: Acinetobacter baumannii, volatile oil of Cinnamomum cassia, Antimicrobial activity, antibiotic agents, Imipenem
Received: 17 Feb 2025; Accepted: 13 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lu, Xu, Xue, Xie, Liu, Wang, Li and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Gang Li, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Region, China
Hanqing Wang, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, Ningxia, China
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