Deciphering the therapeutic potential and mechanisms of Artemisia argyit essential oil on flagellum-mediated Salmonella infections

Salmonellosis is a worldwide epidemic, and the emergence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Salmonella and the establishment of sustained transmission worldwide represent major public health threats. Flagellum-mediated motility is an important virulence trait of Salmonella that leads Salmonella towards the epithelial surface to enhance gut colonization. Artemisia argyit essential oil is a traditional herb extract widely used for the treatment of inflammation-related symptoms and diseases, yet its influences on the assembly and expression of flagellum mechanisms in anti-Salmonella remain underexplored. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism through which Artemisia argyit essential oil treats Salmonella infections. Based on the network pharmacological analysis, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Artemisia argyit exhibited anti-Salmonella infection potency and was found to inhibit flagellum-dependent motility. As expected, Artemisia argyit essential oil treatment exerted conspicuous motility defects attributing to the downregulation of flagellar and fimbriae expression. Additionally, significantly attenuated Salmonella-infected cell injury by interference with the flagellum-mediated Salmonella colonization. In vivo, further analysis revealed that Artemisia argyit essential oil administration could significantly alleviate the symptoms of Salmonella infection by suppressing bacterial loads, inhibiting the production of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, and mitigating pathological injury. Forty-three compounds were identified from Artemisia argyit essential oil by GC-MS, and the respective corresponding targets and active ingredients were predicted. We also examined an in vivo model Salmonella infection with the active ingredient, and found that alpha-cedrene improved Salmonella infection. Our results could lead to the use of Artemisia argyit essential oil for controlling the prevalence of Salmonella, the most predominant food-borne pathogen.