Antibacterial Activity of Melittin Derived from Honey Bee Venom

Bacterial peritonitis is one of the nosocomial infections that is due to direct invasion of bacteria to peritoneal membrane. Resistance to antibiotic is of great significance in this disease and could be led to morbidity and mortality of patients. During the past decade, tracing for natural antimicrobial peptide is more considered. Among them, melittin has been extracted from honey bee venom and its antibacterial activity is being examined. The main goal of this study was isolation of melittin from honey bee venom and evaluation of its antibacterial activity against the agents of bacterial peritonitis. Honey bee venom prepared using electrical stimulation and the quality of venom confirmed by SDS-PAGE. Melittin isolated from the venom using a linear gradient of acetonitrile and C18 column by Reverse Phase-High Performance Chromatography (RP-HPLC). Minimal Inhibition and Bactericidal concentration for melittin examined on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Honey bee venom composed of twenty distinct fraction in which melittin was the major one. Melittin inhibited Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa growth at 0.39, 6.25, and 12.5 μg and was bactericide at 1.56, 25, and >50 μg respectively. Melittin specifically invade the corresponding bacteria and induce significant inhibitory and bactericidal activity against the main agents of bacterial peritonitis. Complementary studies in animal model would be overcome bacterial drug resistance issue specifically in bacterial peritonitis.