Antibacterial activity of origanum vulgare on staphylococcus aureus in a rat model of surgical wound infection

Background: Wound infection is one of the frequent complications in patients with surgical operations. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common cause of surgical wound infections. Origanum vulgare, a common culinary herb, has been shown to have strong antimicrobial activity, especially against Gram-positive pathogens

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the antibacterial effects of O. vulgare on S. aureus in surgical wounds using a rat model

Methods: Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided randomly into two groups of treatment and control rats [1:1]. A circular incision was made on the dorsal inter-scapular region of each rat. Then, rats were inoculated topically with 1 × 104 CFU of S. aureus at the site of skin wounds. O. vulgare extract was applied to wounds twice a day during the experiment. Animals of the control group were left untreated

Results: The load of bacteria in untreated rats was 7 × 10[6] +/- 6 CFU/wound while this was 2 × 10[5] +/- 1 CFU/wound for the treatment animals, which was significantly lower

Conclusion: Results have showed that topical application of O. vulgare extract on the infected wounds included significant antibacterial activity against S. aureus

Wound healing activity of Origanum vulgare against surgical wounds infected by Staphylococcm aureus in a rat model

Wound infection has become a major medical problem in recent years. This is usually caused by Gram-positive bacteria, especially Staphylococcus aureus. Since antimicrobial resistance to current drugs has critically been developed in these causative microorganisms, substitution medicine has become one of the main interests within researchers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the healing activity of Origanum vulgare against surgical wounds infected by S. aureus. Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups. Excisions were created surgically on the animals' skin and then infected with S. aureus. Group 1 was treated with an extract of O. vulgare while Group 2 was untreated. Wound biopsy specimens were collected on Days 5,10 and 16 and analyzed. Results showed that the hydroxyproline content in the treatment group was significantly higher in various post wounding days. The mean of hexosamine in the treated group was higher than in the control group. Protein content increased gradually in Day 10. Results of histopathological studies showed moderate to intense granulation tissue formation and neovascularization in the treated group on Day 10. Furthermore, the histopathological studies showed that intense matrix formation and collagen fiber deposition occurred in treatment group on Day 16 post wound, while intense granulation tissue formation was the prominent feature in control group. The present study has demonstrated that the ethanol extract of O. vulgare contains properties that accelerate wound healing activities compared to control group

[Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of feline hemotropic mycoplasmas]

Feline hemotropic mycoplasmas are parasites of erythrocytes and include three species, Mycoplasma haemofelis, Candidatus mycoplasma haemominutum and Candidatus mycoplasma turicensis. Diagnosis of the infection with these microorganisms can be carried out using conventional assays such as blood cytology. However, these assays have a low accuracy and a high rate of false-positive results due to the poor techniques and procedures and high occurrence of artifacts. Therefore, molecular techniques such as polymerase chain reaction [PCR] are better methods for the diagnosis of infections by these bacteria. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate Feline hemotropic mycoplasma prevalence and phylogenetic analysis in Tehran. Sixty cat blood samples were collected from veterinary clinics in Tehran from 2011 to 2012. Giemsa stained blood smears have been examined by the light microscopes and the positive samples were used for DNA extraction and PCR. Positive PCR samples were sequenced for the differentiation of bacterial species and phylogenetic analysis. Thirty-two samples were positive in direct examination from which two samples were identified as M. haemofelis by the PCR. No positive samples of C. M. haemominutum or C. M. turicensis were found in PCR. Phylogenetic analysis of the isolates showed that these isolates were more similar to the isolates from China and Thailand compared to those from other countries. This study is the first report of phylogenetic analysis of hemotropic mycoplasmas in Iran. Based on the high sequence similarity between Iran, China and Thailand isolates, it can be concluded that these bacteria possibly had the same origin

Identification of tropomyosin and its immunological properties from larvae of cattle tick, boophilus annulatus

Boophilus annulatus is an obligate blood feeder tick that can cause great losses in animals due to anemia and its ability to injure its host skin directly. The aim of this study was identification of cattle humoral immune response to some tick proteins during experimental infestation. Immune sera against tick were collected from experimentally infested cattle with ticks. One and two-dimensional electrophoresis and Western blotting methods were used for the detection of immunogenic proteins in larval tick extract and eight of these proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF and MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry. In non-reducing one-dimensional SDS-PAGE, some bounds between 12 to more than 250-kDa appeared. In two-dimensional SDS-PAGE, numerous spot appeared and the identified immunogenic proteins by parallel immunoblotting weighted between 14 and 97 kDa. Amino acid sequences of protein spot with 37-kDa molecular weight had identity to tropomyosin based on Mascot search in NCBI. Anti tropomyosin antibodies can be induced in experimentally infested hosts with ticks and it seems that tropomyosin can be useful for the development of anti tick vaccines.

[Detection of EHXA, STX[1] and STX[2] virulence genes in non-O157 Escherichia coli isolated from cattle and determination of antibiotic resistance profile of these isolates]

Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli is one the most important bacteria within Bacteriacae. The bacteria infect humans and a wide spectrum of animals, resulting in dangerous consequences such as hemolytic uremic syndrome and hemorrhagic colitis. In the current study, the prevalence of hemolysin [ehxA] and Shiga toxin [stx1 and stx2] virulence genes in non-O157 Escherichia coli, isolated from cattle stool samples, was evaluated by Multiplex PCR. The animals were referred to the Large Animal Teaching Hospital of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran. The antibiotic resistance profiles of the isolates were assessed against seven usual antibiotics used in veterinary medicine. In the PCR study of 39 non-O157 Escherichia coli strains isolated from cattle stool samples, 10 samples were found positive for stx1 or stx2 genes. The prevalence of ehxA gene was zero,which is significantly lower than that mentioned in papers reporting on this issue. As expected, the prevalence rate of stx genes in cattle isolates was usual [nearly 25%]. The prevalence of stx2 was greater than the prevalence of stx1. All isolates were multiple resistant to two or more antibiotics, including ampicillin, erythromycin, polymixin-B, tetracycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin and/or cephalotin