Biochar as a Biocompatible Mild Anti-Inflammatory Supplement for Animal Feed and Agricultural Fields.

Biochar is an organic material and high in carbon content, besides its use for energy purposes, it is also a material that serves the purpose of improving soil fertility, organic matter content of soils and removing heavy metals from water and soil. This study aims to investigate the antimicrobial effects of biochar whose beneficial effects on agricultural productivity has been proven by different studies. Scientific literature concerning the antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral effects of the apricot seed and olive seed biochar is limited. Biochar applications may help to alter the microbial diversity by modifying biological environment either in agriculture or in animal husbandry. Moreover, biochar has been used in animal husbandry to improve animal health especially by regulating the intestinal flora and inflammation in the intestines. Hence, in our study, we investigated the effect of biochar on the growth of Aspergillus niger, Cryphonectria parasitica, Phytophthora cinnamomi, Plenodomus tracheiphilus, Enterococcus casseliflavus, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and two different bacteriophage strains. Biochar did not have any direct effect on the growth of either Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria, bacteriophages, and fungi. In order to test their direct effects on the immune cells, mammalian macrophages were used and biochar directly reduced the inflammatory cytokine levels produced by the in vitro activated macrophages.

Immunostimulatory Activities of Coliphages on In Vitro Activated Mammalian Macrophages.

Bacteriophages present alternatives to antibiotics. In the age of superbugs and antibiotic resistance, the field of medicine is trying to create new antibiotics or derivatives of the old ones to eliminate bacterial infections. Bacteriophages are specific to a certain type of bacterial species and effectively kill the bacteria of target. In order to effectively use the bacteriophages as medicine, their possible side effects should be properly analyzed and one of those includes their activities on the immune system cells. In this study, we isolated two new Escherichia coli bacteriophages and tested their effect on the activation state of the mammalian macrophages. The bacteriophages were host specific and had substantial adsorption rates on E. coli. Moreover, they were able to effectively stimulate the macrophages in the absence of a bacterial stimulant, lipopolysaccharides. This implies that these bacteriophages can be used against E. coli infections in which proper immune system activation is missing. This study is the first one to our knowledge specifically showing the immunostimulatory effect of newly isolated E. coli bacteriophages on the macrophages. It is important to determine the effect of bacteriophages on the immune system cells before their use as antibiotics.