[Historical and Hygienic Aspects on Roles of Quality Requirements for Antibiotic Products in Japan: Part 2--Achievements of Domestic Production of Penicillin and Streptomycin].

Domestic production of penicillin was initiated in 1946 and that of streptomycin in 1950. In the early days, however, the quality of products was considerably lower and the capacity of production small. Surprisingly, there was a sufficient amount of penicillin preparations, with a purity of 85% or more, satisfying domestic demand within three years (1949). In the case of streptomycin, within three years (1953), preparations with a purity two-fold higher than initially available were produced in amounts sufficient to meet both domestic demand and create a surplus availability for exporting purposes. Such increases in quality and production were considered to be made possible by strict quality control of penicillin and streptomycin preparations, based on "Minimum Requirements for Penicillin" established in May 1947 and "Minimum Requirements for Streptomycin" established in December 1949. These requirements were also amended over time in order to provide even higher quality standards in response to the evolving improvements in production processes. Life-threatening diseases such as septicemia and pneumonia were controlled by the sufficient supply of high-quality penicillin preparations and the mortality rate of tuberculosis, regarded as a national disease at the time, markedly decreased by that of streptomycin preparations. Achievements of domestic production of penicillin and streptomycin were considered important factors that contributed greatly to the maintenance of public health in Japan.

Collaborative study for the establishment of the 4(th) International Standard for Streptomycin.

An international collaborative study was organised to establish the 4(th) World Health Organization (WHO) International Standard (IS) for Streptomycin. Fourteen laboratories from different countries participated. Potencies of the candidate material were estimated by microbiological assays with sensitive micro-organisms. To ensure continuity between consecutive batches, the 3(rd) IS for Streptomycin was used as a reference. Based on the results of the study, the 4(th) IS for Streptomycin was adopted at the meeting of the WHO Expert Committee for Biological Standardization (ECBS) in 2015 with an assigned potency of 76 000 International Units (IU) per vial. The 4(th) IS for Streptomycin is available from the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM).

Identification and control of impurities in streptomycin sulfate by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass detection and corona charged-aerosol detection.

For the control of impurities in streptomycin sulfate a reversed phase ion-pair high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method using charged aerosol detection (CAD) was developed. With this method, 21 impurities could be separated and tentatively identified using a combination of exact mass measurement by TOF-MS and MS/MS experiments with a triple quadrupole MS. For three impurities the suggested structures could be confirmed by in situ formation. The CAD detector response was found to be linear over 2 orders of magnitude allowing a straightforward quantification of all impurities. A limit of quantification of 0.09% for streptomycin sulfate and of 0.008% for streptidine sulfate (referred to the concentration of the 5mg/ml test solution) could be achieved. The HPLC method was applied to the purity testing of 12 samples of commercially available streptomycin sulfate from different manufacturers. Impurity levels between 4.6% and 16.0% were found. The current European Pharmacopoeia monograph for streptomycin sulfate only limits streptomycin B by a TLC test to 3.0%. Therefore, the results of this study underline the importance of introducing a state-of-the-art test for the control of impurities in the monograph. The new HPLC-CAD method is considered suitable for this purpose.

Screening chemical composition and in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the essential oils from Origanum syriacum L. growing in Turkey.

In the present study, essential oil from the leaves of Syrian oreganum [Origanum syriacum L. (Lauraceae)] grown in Turkish state forests of the Dortyol district, Turkey, was obtained by steam distillation. The chemical composition of oil was analysed by GC and GC-MS, and was found to contain 49.02% monoterpenes, 36.60% oxygenated monoterpenes and 12.59% sesquiterpenes. The major components are as follows: gamma-terpinene, carvacrol, p-cymene and beta-caryophyllene. Subsequently, the reducing power, antioxidant and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activities of the essential oil were studied. The reducing power was compared with ascorbic acid, and the other activities were compared with 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methyl phenol (BHT, butylated hydroxytoluene). The results showed that the activities were concentration dependent. The antioxidant activities of the oil were slightly lower than those of ascorbic acid or BHT, so the oil can be considered an effective natural antioxidant. Antimicrobial activities of the essential oil from the leaves of Origanum syriacum was also determined on 16 microorganisms tested using the agar-disc diffusion method, and showed antimicrobial activity against 13 of these.

[Experience with the international standardization of the biological activity of the 3d Standard for streptomycin]. / Opyt mezhdunarodnoi standartizatsii biologicheskoi aktivnosti tret'ego standarta streptomitsina.

The activity of the third International Standard of streptomycin was determined to be equal to 755 IU/mg with the use of accurately weighed amounts of streptomycin and 78037 IU with the use of streptomycin ampoules. The Standardization Center of the WHO decided to use the whole content of the ampoule of the Third International Standard of streptomycin, the activity of which is determined to be equal to 78500 IU per an ampoule.