Treatments of natural oils to produce bactericidal products against 'Neisseria gonorrhoeae'

'Neisseria gonorrhoeae' is the aetiologic agent of the sexual transmitted disease gonorrhoea. 'N. gonorrhoeae' is already resistant to many antimicrobial agents and isolation of strains that have resistance to first-line treatment antimicrobials is becoming more common. Novel treatment options have to be identified in a post- antimicrobial era to either treat or prevent 'N. gonorrhoeae' infection. Selected oils (flax seed, hemp and coconut oil) were treated with a purified lipase. To assay antimicrobial activity, the disc diffusion assay was used and log reduction assays were done to measure the bactericidal activity. The untreated oils were not bactericidal nor did they prevent growth of the bacteria. Treatment of the three oils with a lipase produced large inhibition zones of up to 35 mm when tested undiluted for all of the oils. However, only coconut oil was bactericidal. Addition of a 1/100 dilution of the lipase treated coconut oil was enough to kill 10ÔüÀ gonococcal cells within two minutes. As well as the purified lipase treatment, coconut oil was also incubated in a broth culture containing a lipase secreting yeast 'Yarrowia lipolytica'. This treatment also produced antimicrobial products. The treatment of natural oils could offer an alternative to conventional antimicrobials.