Due to the deaths from infections caused by multidrug-resistant microorganisms worldwide, the World Health Organization considers antibiotic resistance to be a critical global public health problem. Bacterial resistance mechanisms are diverse and can be acquired through the overexpression of transmembrane proteins that are called efflux pumps, which act by expelling drugs from the intracellular environment, thereby preventing their action and contributing to the severity of infections. Efflux pumps are one of the main mechanisms of bacterial resistance, and it is important to identify new molecules that are capable of inhibiting the action of efflux pumps and circumvent the problem of resistance linked to the expression of these transmembrane proteins. The plants are promising candidates for obtaining biologically active substances, such as essential oils, with antimicrobial activity and inhibitors of efflux pumps, which can help in the resensitization of bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics. Therefore, this review aims to present the recently reported inhibitory activity of essential oils against bacterial pathogens that produce efflux pumps.

由于世界范围内因多重耐药微生物引起的感染死亡，世界卫生组织认为抗生素耐药性是一个严重的全球公共卫生问题。细菌耐药机制多种多样，可以通过被称为外排泵的跨膜蛋白的过度表达获得，外排泵通过将药物从细胞内环境中排出，从而阻止其作用并导致感染的严重程度。外排泵是细菌耐药的主要机制之一，重要的是确定能够抑制外排泵作用的新分子，并规避与这些跨膜蛋白表达相关的耐药性问题。这些植物是获得生物活性物质的有希望的候选者，例如精油，具有抗菌活性和外排泵抑制剂，可以帮助对抗生素耐药的细菌菌株重新敏感。因此，本综述旨在介绍最近报道的精油对产生外排泵的细菌病原体的抑制活性。