mutagenic and antimutagenic activity of Lavandula angustifolia and Elettaria cardamomum essential oils in the bacterial reverse mutation assay

Essential oils from Elettaria cordamomum [cardamom oil] and Lavandula angustifolia [Lavender oil] are used a lot in food and Drug Industry. Cardamom oil traditionally used as spice in food now is increasingly used as diuretic, sedative and for gastrointestinal disease. Lavender oil, traditionally used as an antiseptic agent, is now widely used as a relaxant, carminative, and sedative in aromatherapy. They both are used as flavouring additives in food and medical industry. It's very important to know their mutagenic potential. Meanwhile, the growth of cancer disease and insufficient chemical treatments are among main reasons for the antimutagenic effect of essential oils to be assessed. In this study we investigated the mutagenic and antimutagenic activities of cardamom oil and lavender oil by the bacterial reverse mutation assay in salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 strains with and without S9 [microsomal mutagenesis assay] for 7 dilutions of each essential oils. The mutagenicity effects were not seen in all dilutions of each essential oils, and antimutagenicity effect was seen in 0.40 and more concentration [mg/plate] of Elettaria cordamomum by the bacterial reverse mutation assay in salmonella typhimurium TA98 strains without S9. Assessment of genotoxic potential and identification of mutagenic components of essential oils has been considered widely after their increasing consumption rate, in order to investigate possible new activities of herbal essential oils like antimutagnic effect possibly leading to new and safer products. Although the antimutagenic activity of lavender oil is an interesting finding, further studies are required to identify the components responsible for its antimutagenic action

[Lactic acid production by Lactobacillus strains]

Lactic acid [2-hydroxypropionic acid, CH[3]CHOHCOOH] is a naturally occurring, chiral, alpha-hydroxy acid and has L[+] and D[-] optical isomers. It is used in food processing [as an acidulant and preservative], medicine, agriculture, and leather and textile industries. Due to its chiral properties, L-lactic acid is used in the pharmaceutical industry as an intermediate for the synthesis of chiral drugs. Polymers of lactic acid are biodegradable and have found use in manufacturing medical equipment. Although several strains of microorganisms are capable of producing lactic acid, some strains of Lactobacilli are generally recognized as safe [GRAS] in this regard. In the present study five lactobacillus strains were studied in order to determine the best L[+] lactic acid-producer strain. The lactobacillus strains were obtained from the Persian Type Culture Collection [PTCC], Iranian Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. They were cultured, under sterile conditions, on the slants of de Man, Rogosa and Sharp [MRS] agar, followed by inoculation on MRS broth medium as a preculture. Then 2.5-ml samples of the preculture containing 10[8] cells/ml were inoculated in 250-ml Erlenmeyer flasks containing 50 ml of a production medium. Fermentation was carried out at 30°C and 180 rpm on a rotary shaker incubator, and glucose consumption, lactic acid production, and growth of the strains were measured in triplicates every 8 hours. L. easel subspp. casei produced 95 g/1 calcium lactate. The yield and productivity of this strain on optimized media containing 100 g/1 glucose were 95% and 0.98 g/lh, respectively. The other high-lactate producer was L. rhamnosus which produced 81.40 g/1 calcium lactate, the yield and productivity being 63% and 0.85 g/lh, respectively. L, casei subspp. casei PTCC: 1608 and L. rhamnosus PTCC: 1637 are the best L[+] lactic acid-producers. They are, thus, the best bacterial strain candidates for pilot plant studies of lactic acid production

[Assessing sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of a modified rapid urease kit for clinical diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori]

Rapid urease test is increasingly used as a cheap and quick procedure with high specificity for clinical detection of Helicobacter pylori worldwide. To evaluate the functionality of a rapid urease kit manufactured by Pasteur institute of Iran in 2002, with some modifications compared with other common kits. During a clinical trial in Baghiatallah hospital, Tehran, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the kit was investigated. This was an experimental study in which 91 patients suspected of having H pylori infection were examined. Following collection of history and clinical symptoms, the endoscopic signs of all patients were also recorded. Each endoscopic specimen was carefully examined in three ways with no previous knowledge of operator as follows: 1. Detection of urease test using modified rapid urease kit. 2. Detection of urease test using certified commercial kit. 3. Pathologic examination as the gold standard method. Regarding the results of present study, employing modified rapid urease kit produced positive results on 78.8% of pathologically positive samples. When negative pathologic samples were tested with modified kit, 89.7 % of samples found to be negative. The differences observed between the results of two tests were statistically significant [p=0.001]. Using modified rapid urease kit also produced a false positive rate of 4.4%. Based on our data, it was shown that the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the modified kit were 78.8%, 89.7% and of 83.5%, respectively

Rate of Listeria abortion in Tehran

The rate of listeria abortion in Tehran was investigated, Abortion samples [200] were cold enriched at 4°C and subcultured on selective culture media containing acriflavin, nalidixic acid and potassium thiocyanate. Sera of patients were tested serologically [IF method] for screening, and results were confirmed by culturing the positive samples. Antibody against L. monocytogenes was obtained in 70.7% of sera but the bacteria was isolated from five samples only

Determination of dominant serovars of Listeria monocytogenes

Serovars of Listeria monocytogenes were determined. Sera of aborted samples [200] were collected from different hospitals in Tehran and were tested serologically by immu no flu ore scent antibody methods [IF tests]. 137 positive sera were identified. Positive sera were tested against 12 serovars of Listeria monocytogenes separately. Titers of antibody in patients' sera for all serovars were determined. The results showed that the dominant serovars of L. monocytogenes which caused listeriosis in the samples were 4b, la, 2 and 3, None of the sera had antibodies against serovars 4a, 6a or 6b. Some of the sera which had high titers of antibody against dominant serovars [4b, 1 a, 2 and 3], showed a faint result with serovars 4d, 4e,5 and 7