**Essential Oils: The Ultimate Solution to Antimicrobial Resistance in** *Escherichia coli***?**

Polly Soo Xi Yap, Shun Kai Yang, Kok Song Lai and Swee Hua Erin Lim

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/67776

### **Abstract**

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is on the rise; the only solution for overcoming this is through accelerated drug discovery. At current, bacterial evolutionary rates is still clearly the undisputed winner in this war. To circumvent this, evolution of resistance need to be curbed and this can only be effective via novel approaches, one of which includes the use of a resistance modifying agent. The criterion to qualify as a resistance modifier necessitates the co-administration of the agent with an inhibitor that deactivates the bacterial resistance mechanism, restoring its original effectiveness. Natural products such as plant extracts and essential oils (EOs) have been viewed as a privileged group for investigation of their potential roles to combat antibiotic resistance, due to their compositions of active chemical compounds. The route for multidrug resistance development in Gram-negative bacteria is primarily mediated by the sophisticated inner and outer membrane barriers, which function to protect the cell against external toxic compounds; hence, bypass of these bacterial membranes would successfully restore or improve efficacy of the antimicrobials. The aim of this chapter is to concisely describe some examples for recent strategies used in the screening of possible resistance modifiers from essential oils specifically against MDR *Escherichia coli*.

**Keywords:** essential oils, combination therapy, drug synergism, resistance modifying, membrane permeability
