Chemical composition and evaluation of the antibacterial and Cytotoxic activities of the essential oil from the leaves of Myracrodruon urundeuva.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the in vitro activity of essential oil extracted from the leaves of Myracrodruon urundeuva. METHODS: The oil was obtained by hydro-distillation and characterized by Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Gas Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). The antibacterial activity was evaluated by the broth microdilution technique and the MIF was determined by using growth indicator CTT (2,3,5-triphenyl-tetrazolium) and CBM in BHI agar. The oil's cytotoxicity was evaluated in HeLa, HEK-293, and Vero E6 cells using MTT, 3- (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium. RESULTS: The oil showed chemical markers, including α-pinene (87.85%), trans-caryophyllene (1.57%), limonene (1.49%) and ß -pinene (1.42%), and activity against all strains: Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = MBC = 0.22 mg/mL), Staphylococcus epidermidis (MIC = 0.11 mg/mL and MBC = 0.22 mg/mL), Escherichia coli (MIC = 0.88 mg/mL and MBC = 1.75 mg/mL), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC = MBC = 7 mg/mL) and Salmonella Enteritidis (MIC = MBC = 0.44 mg/mL). In vitro cytotoxicity tests showed that the oil is not toxic and has slight antitumor activity. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the M. urundeuva oil results are promising, with prospects of being pharmacologically viable.

Effect of medium components and time of cultivation on chitin production by Mucor circinelloides (Mucor javanicus IFO 4570) -- a factorial study.

Chitin production of mycelia from Mucor circinelloides (Mucor javanicus) was studied with a two-level factorial design in all combinations of the following factors in the culture medium: time of cultivation, concentration of D-glucose, L-asparagine and thiamine. Chitin was characterised by infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The four factors showed statistically significant (95%) positive main effects on chitin production, without interactions between them. The highest chitin yield (23.9%) was obtained with the medium containing 60 g/l of glucose, 3 g/l of asparagine and 0.008 mg/l of thiamine and is comparable to the highest in the literature.

Production of extracellular proteases by Mucor circinelloides using D-glucose as carbon source / substrate

Recently, some Mucorales species have been reported as protease producers. The production of extracellular proteases by Mucor circinelloides using glucose as substrate was studied. Experiments were carried out with different D-glucose concentrations (40, 60 and 80 g/L). Biomass, pH and protease activity were determined. Although biomass production had reached best yields for the medium containing D-glucose in a concentration of 80 g/L, the enzymatic production was higher when the substrate concentration was reduced to 40 g/L. The yield factor for product on cell growth and the yield factor for product on carbon substrate were higher when the microorganism grew in medium containing 40 g/L glucose. The kinetics parameters suggest that this strain seems to be promising as an alternative microorganism for protease production.

Recentemente, algumas espécies da ordem Mucorales têm sido reportadas como produtoras de proteases. Neste trabalho a produção de proteases extracelulares foi estudada em uma amostra de Mucor circinelloides utilizando D-glicose, em diferentes concentrações (40, 60 e 80 g/L), como substrato. A fermentação foi acompanhada com determinação de biomassa e pH, assim como pela determinação da atividade proteásica. Embora a produção de biomassa tenha alcançado melhores rendimentos na presença de 80 g/L de glicose, a produtividade enzimática aumentou quando a concentração do substrato foi reduzida para 40 g/L. Os fatores de rendimento de produção enzimática por biomassa, assim como o rendimento de glicose consumida em atividade proteásica foram superiores quando o cultivo do microrganismo ocorreu em meio contendo 40 g/L de D-glicose. As variáveis de resposta do bioprocesso sugerem que a linhagem estudada possa ser utilizada como microrganismo agente para a produção de protease.