Plants of Salvia are frequently used for treatment infections of boils and sores in Traditional Chinese medicine, which might inhibit microbial. In this work, the chemical constituents of the effective fractions were analyzed using UPLC-Q-TOF-MS, and multivariate analysis and network pharmacology were used to predict potential antibacterial substances and their mechanism. Moreover, against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) effect and pathway of bioactive compounds were validated by experiments in vitro and in vivo. Two unreported anti-MRSA compounds, miltirone and przewaquinone A were proposed and then validated by serial experiments. They acted as bactericides and biofilm scavengers, respectively, and both targeted on the cell membrane, causing leakage of contents and affecting intracellular metabolism, leading to bacterial death without significant toxicity. Furthermore, miltirone ameliorated skin wound infection caused by MRSA in mice, roughly equal to vancomycin. The research supported the traditional use of Salvia plants, and presented two potent bactericidal agents for further investigation.
Huang et al. (2026) studied this question.