Lactoferrin, chitosan and Melaleuca alternifolia-natural products that show promise in candidiasis treatment.

The evolution of microorganisms resistant to many medicines has become a major challenge for the scientific community around the world. Motivated by the gravity of such a situation, the World Health Organization released a report in 2014 with the aim of providing updated information on this critical scenario. Among the most worrying microorganisms, species from the genus Candida have exhibited a high rate of resistance to antifungal drugs. Therefore, the objective of this review is to show that the use of natural products (extracts or isolated biomolecules), along with conventional antifungal therapy, can be a very promising strategy to overcome microbial multiresistance. Some promising alternatives are essential oils of Melaleuca alternifolia (mainly composed of terpinen-4-ol, a type of monoterpene), lactoferrin (a peptide isolated from milk) and chitosan (a copolymer from chitin). Such products have great potential to increase antifungal therapy efficacy, mitigate side effects and provide a wide range of action in antifungal therapy.

Adsorption of immunoglobulin Y in supermacroporous continuous cryogel with immobilized Cu(2+) ions.

The influence of temperature, pH and ionic strength on the adsorption of Immunoglobulin Y (IgY) in IDA-Cu(2+) cryogel system was studied by batch equilibrium measurements. The adsorptive equilibrium data were obtained at 17 and 27°C, pH 5.0 and 6.5, and at ionic strength of 50 and 200mmolL(-1) NaCl. Langmuir, Freundlich and Langmuir-Freundlich models were fitted to equilibrium data, while the enthalpy of adsorption of IgY in IDA-Cu(2+) cryogel system was calculated through Van't Hoff analysis. The binding of IgY on cryogel was stronger at 27°C and lowest pH and ionic strength values, with apparent maximum adsorption capacity of 27mgg(-1). The adsorption of protein in the resin was spontaneous in all analyzed cases. The results provide valuable information to enable the improvement of IgY purification processes.