Eevaluation of the effectiveness of the combination of the antibiotic meropenem and the ethanolic extract of Vaccinum arctostaphylus plant on the standard strain of Acintobacter baumannii bacteria

Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram-negative opportunistic pathogen and one of the most important hospital pathogens. Antibiotic resistance helps Acinetobacter baumannii to survive in environments under antibiotic stress and complicates treatment. On the other hand, the excessive use of antibiotics causes destructive effects on body organs. Vaccinium arctostaphylus plant is used in the treatment of mental diseases due to its abundant polyphenols, including flavonoids, which have significant antibacterial properties. This research is the first to determine the antibacterial effect of meropenem and the ethanolic extract of vacinium arctostaphylus plant in combination, and it was done separately on the standard strain of Acinetobacter baumannii in laboratory conditions. Firstly, the antimicrobial effect of meropenem and ethanol extract of vaccinium alone on the standard strain of Acinetobacter baumannii (ATCC19606) was determined by the microdilution method, then the inhibitory concentration for the combination of antibiotic and extract was calculated using the checkerboard method and also the relative inhibitory concentration index was also obtained. The growth inhibitory concentration of this extract along with the antibiotic decreased significantly, and in the combination of extract and meropenem, the concentration of meropenem was 0.0156 µg/mLand the concentration of extract was 0.390 µg/ml. Factorial test was used for the statistical comparison of classification variables, which showed that there is a significant relationship between the increase in extract concentration and also the combination with antibiotics. According to the results of this study, the ethanolic extract of arctostaphylus vaccinium has a synergistic effect on Acinetobacter baumannii with meropenem. Due to the good antimicrobial effect of the vaccinium arctostaphylus with the antibiotic meropenem on the standard strain of Acinetobacter baumannii, they can be used in addition to antibiotics.