This study examined the effect of host extract in the culture medium on anti-candidal activity of Phomopsis sp. ED2, previously isolated from the medicinal herb Orthosiphon stamineus Benth. Interestingly, upon addition of aqueous host extract to the culture medium, the ethyl acetate extract prepared from fermentative broth exhibited moderate anti-candidal activity in a disc diffusion assay. The minimal inhibitory concentration of this extract was 62.5 μg/ml and it only exhibited fungistatic activity against C. albicans. In the time-kill study, a 50% growth reduction of C. albicans was observed at 31.4 h for extract from the culture incorporating host extract. In the bioautography assay, only one single spot (Rf 0.59) developed from the extract exhibited anti-candidal activity. A spot with the a similar Rf was not detected for the crude extract from YES broth without host extract. This indicated that the terpenoid anti-candidal compound was only produced when the host extract was introduced into the medium. The study concluded that the incorporation of aqueous extract of the host plant into the culture medium significantly enhanced the anti-candidal activity of Phomopsis sp. ED2.
The emergence of beta lactamase producing bacterial strains eliminated the use of beta lactam antibiotics as chemotherapeutic alternative. Beta lactam antibiotics can be coupled with non-antibiotic adjuvants to combat these multidrug resistant strains. We study the synergistic antibiotic effect of stigmasterol as adjuvant of ampicillin against clinical isolates. Ampicillin was used in this study as a beta lactam antibiotic model. All test bacteria were beta lactamase producing clinical isolates. The combination showed significantly better antibiotic activity on all bacteria tested. The two test substances have synergistic antibiotic activity, and the effect was observed in both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. The synergistic antibiotic effect of stigmasterol and ampicillin was evident by the low fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index on Checkerboard Assay. The results suggest that the combination of ampicillin and stigmasterol acts additively in the treatment of infections caused by beta-lactamase producing pathogens. In bacterial growth reduction assay, ampicillin and stigmasterol alone exhibited very weak inhibitory effect on the bacterial growth, relative to ethanol control. Comparatively, combination of stigmasterol-ampicillin greatly reduced the colony counts at least by 98.7%. In conclusion, we found synergistic effects of stigmasterol and ampicillin against beta lactamase producing clinical isolates. This finding is important as it shows potential application of stigmasterol as an antibiotic adjuvant.
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disorder which affects millions of population worldwide. Global estimates published in 2010 reported the world diabetic prevalence as 6.4%, affecting 285 million adults. Foot ulceration and wound infection are major forms of disabilities arising from diabetic diseases. This study was aimed to develop a natural antimicrobial finishing on medical grade textile that meets American Association of Textiles Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) standard. The textile samples were finished with the ethanolic extract of Penicillium amestolkiae elv609, an endophytic fungus isolated from Orthosiphon stamineus Benth (common name: cat's whiskers). Endophyte is defined as microorganism that reside in the living plant tissue, without causing apparent disease symptom to the host. The antimicrobial efficacy of the ethanolic extract of P. minioluteum was tested on clinical pathogens isolated from diabetic wound. The extract exhibited significant inhibitory activity against 4 bacteria and 1 yeast with the minimal inhibitory concentration ranged from 6.25 to 12.5 mg/mL. The results indicate different susceptibility levels of the test microorganism to the ethanolic extract. However, the killing activity of the extract was concentration-dependent. The finished medical textile showed excellent antimicrobial efficacy on AATCC test assays. All the microbial cultures treated with the textile sample displayed a growth reduction of 99.9% on Hoheinstein Challenge Test. The wash durability of the finished textile was found good even after 50 washes with commercial detergent. Besides, the gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis showed that 6-octadecenoic acid and diethyl phthalate were the main bioactive constituents of the extract. In conclusion, the developed medical textile showed good antimicrobial efficacy on laboratory tests. This work can be extended to in vivo trials for developing healthcare textile products for antimicrobial applications.
Microbial infection is a frequent complication of diabetic foot ulcers, with up to 82% of ulcers being infected at the initial stage of diabetes. Furthermore, the emergence of beta lactam resistant pathogens managed to eliminate the use of beta lactam antibiotics as a chemotherapeutic alternative. This further increases the amputation and mortality rate. Hence, the aim of this study is to evaluate antimicrobial efficacy of a ketone derivative 2-octylcyclopentanone against diabetic wound pathogens. The inhibitory activity of the compound was determined using disc diffusion and broth microdilution assay. Generally, 2-octylcyclopentanone showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, particularly against beta lactam resistant pathogens. The compound showed comparably better antimicrobial activity than all reference antibiotics, including chloramphenicol, streptomycin, ampicillin and penicillin. In addition, the same compound also inhibits a clinically isolated Pseudonomas aeruginosa that was resistant to all reference antibiotics. The activity was microbicidal based on the low minimal lethality concentration recorded, particularly on MRSA, P. aeruginosa and Candida utilis. The killing efficiency of the compound was concentration dependent. During kill curve analysis, the inhibitory activity of 2-octylcyclopentanone was concentration and time-dependent. 99.9% of reduction of bacterial growth was observed. MRSA and P. aeruginosa, two significant diabetic wound infections, are totally inhibited by the molecule at a concentration of minimum lethality concentration. In short, 2-octylcyclopentanone exhibited significant inhibitory towards wide range of diabetic wound pathogens. Which is considered crucial since it will provide a safe and effective alternative treatment for diabetic ulcer infection.
In this study, the fabrication of titanium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide (TiO2/rGO) utilising banana peel extracts (Musa paradisiaca L.) as a reducing agent for the photoinactivation of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was explored. The GO synthesis was conducted using a modified Tour method, whereas the production of rGO involved banana peel extracts through a reflux method. The integration of TiO2 into rGO was achieved via a hydrothermal process. The successful synthesis of TiO2/rGO was verified through various analytical techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), gas sorption analysis (GSA), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS), scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. The results indicated that the hydrothermal-assisted green synthesis effectively produced TiO2/rGO with a particle size of 60.5 nm. Compared with pure TiO2, TiO2/rGO demonstrated a reduced crystallite size (88.505 nm) and an enhanced surface area (22.664 m2/g). Moreover, TiO2/rGO featured a low direct bandgap energy (3.052 eV), leading to elevated electrical conductivity and superior photoconductivity. To evaluate the biological efficacy of TiO2/rGO, photoinactivation experiments targeting E. coli and S. aureus were conducted using the disc method. Sunlight irradiation emerged as the most effective catalyst, achieving optimal inactivation results within 6 and 4 h.
Pressure ulcers are commonly associated with microbial infections on the wounds which require an effective wound dressing for treatment. Thus far, the available silver dressing has shown tremendous result, however, it may cause argyria and complicate the internal organ function. Hence, our study aims to develop and characterize phomopsidione-loaded chitosan-polyethylene glycol nanocomposite hydrogel (C/PEG/Ph) as an antimicrobial dressing. Physically, the C/PEG/Ph hydrogel demonstrated a uniform light blue color, soft, flexible, and elastic, with no aggregation form. The evaluation via Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) exposed the C/PEG/Ph hydrogel has a notable shift towards lower frequency at 1600 and 1554 cm-1. For drug release test, the phomopsidione attained plateau at 24 h, with a total release of 67.9 ± 6.4% from the C/PEG/Ph hydrogel. There was a null burst release effect discovered throughout the experimental period. The C/PEG/Ph hydrogel showed significant results against all 4 Gram-negative bacteria and 1 yeast, with 99.99-100% reduction of microbial growth. The findings revealed that the C/PEG/Ph hydrogel can potentially act as an antimicrobial dressing for pressure ulcers.