Endophytic fungi are known to produce bioactive compounds with the potential to be used as promising drugs to treat a wide range of diseases. To the best of our knowledge, the use of bioactive metabolites derived from endophytic fungi, particularly against multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens inhabiting burn wounds, has been emphasized for the first time. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of purified benzoic acid (BA) derived from Neurospora crassa, an endophytic fungus isolated from Lycium shawii, as a promising and alternative safe antimicrobial candidate in wound healing. As a result, benzoic acid, a safe and nontoxic compound, may be a promising candidate for combating clinical MDR pathogens of burn wound infections. In this study, Neurospora crassa strain SSN01 (MW856826) was successfully identified for the first time as a new BA-producing endophytic fungus isolated from Lycium shawii. The concentration of BA in the ethyl acetate extract reached 244 mg/mL. Purified BA had a detrimental effect on the MDR strains tested, and the MDR Staphylococcus aureus strain SA-17 was clearly more susceptible to BA as compared to the other tested MDR bacterial and fungal strains. Toxicological studies on experimental animals were conducted to evaluate the toxicity of BA and a suitable dose regimen for future human use. Oral administration of BA at the highest concentration of 300 µg/kg body weight resulted in nontoxic signs and no mortality. In vivo histopathological examination revealed that BA, as a nontoxic and safe compound, could be a promising candidate for wound healing, combating MDR pathogens of burn wound infections.

众所周知，内生真菌会产生生物活性化合物，这些化合物有可能被用作治疗多种疾病的有前途的药物。据我们所知，首次强调使用源自内生真菌的生物活性代谢物，特别是针对存在于烧伤伤口的耐多药 (MDR) 病原体。因此，本研究的目的是研究来自粗糙脉孢菌（一种从枸杞中分离的内生真菌）中提取的纯化苯甲酸 (BA)作为伤口愈合中一种有前途的替代安全抗菌候选物的潜力。因此，苯甲酸是一种安全无毒的化合物，可能是对抗烧伤感染的临床 MDR 病原体的有希望的候选者。在这项研究中，粗糙脉孢菌菌株SSN01（MW856826）首次被成功鉴定为从枸杞中分离出的一种新的产BA内生真菌。乙酸乙酯萃取液中的 BA 浓度达到 244 mg/mL。纯化的 BA 对测试的 MDR 菌株具有不利影响，与其他测试的 MDR 细菌和真菌菌株相比， MDR金黄色葡萄球菌菌株 SA-17 显然对 BA 更敏感。对实验动物进行毒理学研究以评估 BA 的毒性和未来人类使用的合适剂量方案。以 300 µg/kg 体重的最高浓度口服 BA 导致无毒症状和无死亡。体内组织病理学检查表明，BA 作为一种无毒且安全的化合物，可能是一种有希望的伤口愈合候选物，可对抗烧伤感染的 MDR 病原体。