Screening and Identification of Fibrinolytic Bacteria from Malaysian Fermented Seafood Products.

Natural fibrinolytic enzymes have been focused recently when compared to chemically synthesize thrombolytic drugs as they are more economical and believe to have less adverse reaction. Belacan (shrimp paste), Budu (fish sauce) and Cencaluk (shrimp sauce) were traditional fermented Malay seafood products used as sources for this study. The isolation and screening resulted in the discovery of 43 potential isolates with the ability as an extracellular fibrin degrader. Each isolate were unique due to differences in morphology characteristics and the amounts of fibrinolytic enzyme secretes under standard growth condition. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that some strains posses the ability to act as tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) which in deed has beneficial to many medicinal and therapeutic purposes. Of these 43 strains investigated for the fibrinolytic enzyme production, three species, mainly the best producer from each food sample were chosen for further molecular identification. This lead to the discovery of B. cereus 13BN, B. subtilis 2CN and B. subtilis 9BD strains, which posses both high fibrinolytic and t-PA activities, making it extremely valuable and promising producer.

Antibacterial properties of Persicaria minor (Huds.) ethanolic and aqueous-ethanolic leaf extracts.

Persicaria minor known as small water-pepper is used traditionally for the treatment of dandruffs and stomach indigestion. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of plant leaf material. 30% aqueous-ethanol and 100% aqueous were used for solvent extraction. Both extracts were evaluated for total protein and polysaccharide contents and results were compared. The extracts were then tested against four strains of bacteria; Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Escherichia coli ATCC 11229, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 1544,at different concentrations using disc-diffusion and microplate dilution assays with penicillin being used as a positive control standard. Both extracts showed antibacterial activity against S. aureus, E. faecalis, and E. coli, respectively with aqueous-ethanolic extract being more potent. However, none of the extracts were active against P. aeruginosa. Results from this study truly illustrated high potential of P. minor leaves to be used topically as antibacterial agent for controlling of tested colony.