In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of a lipid transfer protein isolated from Morinda citrifolia L. seeds, named McLTP₁, and to investigate its effect in the cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) mouse sepsis model. Antimicrobial assays revealed that McLTP₁ (12.5–800 μg/mL) significantly reduced Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538P and ATCC 14458) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 12228) planktonic growth, reaching maximal inhibition of approximately 50% and 98%, respectively. Furthermore, McLTP₁ inhibited biofilm formation of both S. aureus strains, achieving percentages ranging from 39.1% to 69.1% (200–800 μg/mL) for ATCC 6538P and 34.4%–63% (12.5–800 μg/mL) for ATCC 14458. A synergistic interaction between McLTP₁ and oxacillin against S. aureus and S. epidermidis was also observed, as determined by fractional inhibitory concentration indices of 0.18 and 0.38, respectively. McLTP₁ showed no significant inhibitory effect against Gram-negative bacteria. In the in vivo experiments, sepsis was lethal to 83% of the animals, 72 h after CLP. In contrast, 100% of the animals treated with McLTP₁ (8 mg/kg) before (intraperitoneal injection or oral dose) or after (oral dose) CLP were still alive 3 days later. In addition, oral or intraperitoneal administration of McLTP₁ (8 mg/kg) significantly reduced the body weight loss, fever, leukocytosis, organ damage, and the level of inflammatory serum cytokines induced by sepsis. In conclusion, McLTP₁ could be exploited for its antimicrobial properties, and can be considered a potential therapeutic candidate for the management of clinical sepsis.

在本研究中，我们旨在评估从巴戟天种子中分离的脂质转移蛋白，即Mc LTP ₁的抗菌活性，并研究其在盲肠结扎穿刺（CLP）小鼠脓毒症模型中的作用。抗菌测定表明，Mc LTP ₁（12.5–800μg/ mL）显着降低了金黄色葡萄球菌（ATCC 6538P和ATCC 14458）和表皮葡萄球菌（ATCC 12228 ）浮游生物的生长，分别达到了约50％和98％的最大抑制作用。此外，Mc LTP ₁抑制了金黄色葡萄球菌的生物膜形成。菌株，达到的百分比范围从39.1％至69.1％（200-800微克/毫升）对之间ATCC 14458.的协同相互作用为ATCC 6538P和34.4％-63％（12.5-800微克/毫升）了Mc LTP ₁和对苯唑西林还观察到金黄色葡萄球菌和表皮葡萄球菌，分别由0.18和0.38的抑制分数浓度指数确定。Mc LTP ₁对革兰氏阴性菌没有明显的抑制作用。在体内实验中，CLP后72小时，败血症对83％的动物具有致死性。相反，用Mc LTP ₁治疗的动物中有100％（腹膜内注射或口服）或CLP（口服）后（3 mg / kg）3天后仍存活。此外，口服或腹膜内施用Mc LTP ₁（8 mg / kg）可以显着降低体重减轻，发烧，白细胞增多，器官损伤以及败血症诱导的炎性血清细胞因子水平。总之，Mc LTP ₁可以利用其抗菌特性，可以被认为是管理临床败血症的潜在治疗候选药物。