effects of garlic and cardamom extracts on morphology and physiology properties methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus [MRSA] and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Garlic has been known as an important medicinal plant for centuries and belonging to the Liliaceae family. Cardamom is the dried fruit of the tall perennial herbaceous plant, Elettaria cardamomum Maton, and belonging to the Zingiberaceae. family. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aqueous extract of garlic and methanolic extract of cardamom on MRSA and P. aeruginosa. Dry garlic bulbs [l00g] were peeled and homogenized distilled water [1:1 w/v], using a blender and 50% juice of garlic is obtained, centrifuged and then the supernatant of garlic juice is collected and passed through a 0.45 micro m filter and stored at 4 for further experiments. Also after collecting cardamom seeds, drying and making it powder, extracts were obtained by using percolation method with methanol. for evaluating the antibacterial activity of the extracts or garlic and cardamom, the microbial suspension was prepared by direct colony suspension method and different dilutions of extracts [1:2, 1:4, 1:8,. .., 1:64 v/v for garlic; 800, 650, 400,. .., 50 micro g/ml for cardamom] were prepared and tested against of MRSA ATCC 33591 and P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853. Minimum Inhibition Concentration [MIC] was obtained via Disc diffusion and Broth dilution and well diffusion method. We also analyzed morphological changes of MRSA and P.aeruginosa by light microscopy [LM] and biochemical properties was studied by inoculation of low concentrations of garlic and cardamom extracts to bacterial culture. The results showed that cardamom extract has no effect against Pseudomonas aeruginosa but garlic extract is effective on P. aeruginosa. Garlic extract [1:2, 1:4, 1:8, 1:16, containing 220, 110, 55, 27.50 micro g/ml allicin] inhibited the growth of MRSA and concentrations of 1:2 to 1:8 [v/v] inhibited the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Further more MRSA is sensitive to cardamom extract in 800 to 200 micro g/ml. In general, the minimal inhibitory concentration for MRSA [garlic MIC 1:16; allicin mean MIC 7.50 micro g/ml] were lower than for P. aeruginosa [garlic MIC 1:8; allicin mean MIC 55 micro g/ml].The treatment group with garlic extract showed a changed form of morphology such as cellular swelling, partially distored shape and changes in the size of bacteria, but cardamom extract dose not reveal any changes compared to the control. It was also observed in low concentrations of garlic, production of catalase enzyme and pyocyanine pigment by P.aeruginosa were decreased but it increased strain hemolysis ability, and acid production from saccharose, manitol by MRSA changed to negative. This research showed that garlic and cardamom extracts have different antibacterial properties against 2 tested bacteria

Isolation and characterization of crude oil degrading bacillus spp.

Today, application of microorganisms for removing crude oil pollution from contaminated sites as bioremediation studies, was considered by scientists because other methods such as surfactant washing and incineration lead to production of more toxic compounds and they are non-economic. Fifteen crude oil degrading bacillus spp. were isolated from contaminated sites. Two isolated showed best growth in liquid media with 1-3% [v/v] crude oil and mineral salt medium, then studied for enzymatic activities on tested media. The results showed maximal increase in optical densities and total viable count concomitant with decrease in pH on fifth day of experimental period for bacillus S6. Typical generation time on mineral salt with 1% crude oil is varying between 18-20h, 25-26h respectively for bacillus S6 and S35. Total protein was monitored at determined time intervals as biodegradation indices. Increasing of protein concentration during the incubation period reveals that isolated bacillus can degrade crude oil and increase microbial biomass. These bacillus spp. reduced surface tension from 60 [mN/m] to 31 and 38 [mN/m], It means that these bacillus spp. can produce sufficient surfactant and have good potential of emulsification capacity. The results demonstrated that these bacillus spp. can utilize crude oil as a carbon and energy source

[Consideration sensitivity of PCR-Ribotyping method in identification Salmonella spp isolates from patients with diarrhea]

Background: Salmonella is the most important diarrheagenic pathogens, which can cause food borne disease where the main route of transmission among human is through contaminated meat and poultry foods. Its symptoms can be diarrhea, fever, vomiting and sometimes bloody diarrhea. For it's importance, it is essential to be identified and characterized by more precise methods such as molecular techniques. The aim of this study was to consider sensitivity of PCR-Ribotyping method for identification of Salmonella spp

Materials and methods: in this study our samples were Salmonella strains, which were isolated from patients with diarrhea. Their DNA was extracted by phenol/ Chloroform method. We did PCR-Ribotyping method with P1, P2 primers for 16S-23SrRNA gene. At last PCR-products run on 1.8% agarose gel in 120V for 90 min. the analysis was done after Ethidium bromide staining

Results: all the 40 strains containing paratyphi A, B, C and D serotypes also, serotype typhi contained 5 bands ranging 700 to 2500 bp

Conclusions: according to the results we can say that PCR-Ribotyping method has the highest sensitivity for identification of genus Salmonella but it is not suitable for Serotyping of Salmonella strains