ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
The Protective Effects and Mechanisms of Rosmarinic Acid Against Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection in Caenorhabditis elegans
Provisionally accepted
Ying Zhang1
Chengjie Shu2Zhuohang Li2
Man Qu3Chunwu Wang4Shihui Nie5Qingjiang Xu5Shunlin Gu6Mingjie Fan7Baojun Shi2Lei Fu2*Fenglun Zhang2*- 1Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
- 2China CO-OP Nanjing Institute for Comprehensive Utilization of Wild Plants, Nanjing, China
- 3Yangzhou University Medical College, Yangzhou, China
- 4Xinjiang Agricultural Technology Promotion Station, Urumqi, China
- 5Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi, China
- 6Yuepuhu Cumin Science and Technology Institute Co., Ltd., Kashgar, China
- 7Xinjiang Yuanda Green Agriculture Development Co., Ltd., Kashgar, China
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) poses a significant risk to both the environment and organisms. Although the natural compound rosmarinic acid (RA) has demonstrated considerable antibacterial properties, its efficacy in combating P. aeruginosa Infection remains vague. The present study employed Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) as a model for infection. PA14 infection had a diverse effect on C. elegans, including reduced lifespan, impaired behavioral functions (diminished head thrashing frequency, body bending frequency, and pharyngeal pumping frequency, as well as a prolonged excretion cycle), increased lipofuscin and reactive oxygen species accumulation, and mitochondrial dysfunction (lower mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and ATP content). RA treatment at concentrations of 100-300 mg/L dose-dependently reduced the number of PA14 colonies in the nematodes, prolonged the lifespan of the infected nematodes, improved behavioral impairments, decreased lipofuscin and ROS accumulation, and alleviated oxidative stress. Mechanistically, RA upregulated the expression profiles of the mev-1 and gas-1 mitochondrial-related genes involved in mitochondrial complex assembly and function. This enhanced MMP and ATP synthesis and mitigated PA14-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. These results indicated that RA protected C. elegans from PA14 infection via its antioxidant properties and its ability to improve mitochondrial function, highlighting its potential as a natural compound for addressing PA14 contamination.
Keywords: Rosmarinic acid, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Anti-infection, Bacterial infection, Mitochondria, Caenorhabditis elegans
Received: 09 Sep 2025; Accepted: 10 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Shu, Li, Qu, Wang, Nie, Xu, Gu, Fan, Shi, Fu and Zhang. 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:
Lei Fu, fuleipb80@outlook.com
Fenglun Zhang, fenglun_st@outlook.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.