In vivo protective effect of geraniol on colonization of Staphylococcus epidermidis in rat jugular vein catheter model

Staphylococcal infections associated with indwelling medical devices are difficult to eradicate owing to its recalcitrant nature of biofilms to conventional antibiotics. In our earlier study, we reported the efficacy of geraniol (GE) in inhibiting the in vitro biofilm formation of Staphylococcus epidermidis and adaptive resistant development. To examine the in vivo potential of GE in eradicating the in vivo colonization of S. epidermidis, an implanted rat jugular vein catheter model was developed. Oral supplementation of GE (GE at 200 mg/kg bw for three days) in rats infected with S. epidermidis exhibited a significant reduction of the bacterial burden in catheter, blood, heart and kidney, when compared to the untreated infection control. In addition, GE supplemented animals showed significantly reduced level of inflammatory markers such as nitric oxide and malondialdehyde in heart and kidney tissues. Furthermore, in contrast to the infection control, histopathology analysis of the heart and kidney tissues of the GE-treated group showed a normal histoarchitecture similar to animal control. Thus, the outcome of the present study exhibits the potential of GE as antibiofilm and anti-inflammatory agent against S. epidermidis infections. Furthermore, elucidating the molecular mechanism of GE is important to exploit the therapeutic efficacy of GE.