Antimicrobial Effect of Copper Oxide Nanoparticles on Some Oral Bacteria and Candida Species.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Acid producing bacteria including Streptococcus mutans and lactobacilli cause tooth demineralization and lead to tooth decay. Also, oral colonization of the species of Candida has been reported in many studies that are resistant to antifungal agents. OBJECTIVES: In this study, antibacterial and antifungal effects of nano-CuO were studied against some oral bacteria and yeast fungi. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) for oral bacterial and fungal test strains were determined in 96-well microtiter plate technique. The agar diffusion test (ADT) was employed to assess the antifungal properties of nystatin. RESULTS: The MIC50 value of CuO NPs was determined at the range of 1-10 µg/ml for S. mutans, < 1 µg/ml for L. acidophilus, and 10 µg/ml for L. casei. Higher concentrations of CuO NPs (100-1000 µg/ml) were effective on the bacterial cell growth, resulting in 100% reduction in the optical density in TSB medium. The cells of Candida albicans, C. krusei and C. glabrata were treated with CuO NPs and the results showed a decrease in fungal growth at a concentration of 1-1000 µg/ml in TSB medium. The MIC50 value of CuO NPs was determined 1000 µg/ml for three species of Candida. The diameter of growth inhibition zones of 1100 µg/ml nystatin was obtained 15-21 mm for clinical isolates of three species of Candida. CONCLUSIONS: With respect to the potential bactericidal activity of CuO NPs on various cariogenic bacteria examined in this study, these NPs could be introduce as a candidate control agent for preventing dental caries or dental infections. In our study, on the other hand, Nano copper oxide had a weak effect on the candida species.

Interaction of sulfur mustard with rat liver salt fractionated chromatin.

In this study, the interaction of an alkylating agent, sulfur mustard (SM) with rat liver active (S1 and S2) and inactive (P2) chromatin was investigated employing UV/vis spectroscopy and gel electrophoreses. The results show that SM affects the chromatin structure in a dose-dependent manner. The binding of SM to fractions is different. At lower concentrations (<500 microM), SM seems to unfold the structure and at higher concentrations, it induces aggregation and condensation of chromatin possibly via forming cross-links between the chromatin components. The extent of condensation in S2 is higher when compared to the P2 fraction.

Self-doped anthranilic acid-pyrrole copolymer/gold electrodes for selective preconcentration and determination of Cu(I) by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry.

Electropolymerization of anthranilic acid/pyrrole (AA/PY) at solid substrate electrodes (platinum, gold, and glassy carbon) gave stable and water-insoluble films under a wide range of pH. Combining high conductivity of the polypyrrole (PPY) and pH independence of the electrochemical activity of the self-doped carboxylic acid-substituted polyaniline allows us to prepare an improved functionalized PPY-modified electrode to collect and measure Cu(I) species. The differential pulse stripping analysis of the copper ions using a polyanthranilic acid-co-polypyrrole (PAA/PPY)-modified electrode consisted of three steps: accumulation, electrochemical reduction to the elemental copper and stripping step. Factors affecting these steps, including electropolymerization conditions, accumulation and stripping medium, reduction potential, reduction time and accumulation time, were systematically investigated. A detection limit of 5.3 x 10(-9) M Cu(I) was achieved for a 7.0 min accumulation. For 12 determinations of Cu(I) at concentrations of 1.0 x 10(-8) M, an RSD of 3.5% was obtained. The log I(p) was found to vary linearly with log[Cu(I)] in the concentration range from 7.0 x 10(-9) to 1.0 x 10(-5) M.