Antibiotic resistance is the major growing threat facing the pharmacological treatment of bacterial infections. Therefore, bioprospecting the medicinal plants could provide potential sources for antimicrobial agents. Mimusops, the biggest and widely distributed plant genus of family Sapotaceae, is used in traditional medicines due to its promising pharmacological activities. This study was conducted to elucidate the antimicrobial effect of three unexplored Mimusops spp. (M. kummel, M. laurifolia and M. zeyheri). Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying such antibacterial activity were studied. The Mimusops leaf extracts revealed significant antibacterial activities against the five tested bacterial strains with a maximum inhibition zone diameter of 22.0 mm against B. subtilis compared with standard antibiotic ciprofloxacin. The minimal inhibitory and bactericidal concentration values against tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains ranged from 3.15-12.5 µg/ml. However, weak antifungal effect was recorded against Candida albicans with MIC value ˃25 µg/ml. The 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay showed that M. caffra was the best antioxidant (IC50=14.75±0.028 µg/ml), while M. laurifolia was the least one (IC50=34.22±0.014 µg/ml). The phenolics in plant leaves extracts were identified and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) which revealed the presence of seven phenolic acids and four flavonoids. The abundant phenolic compounds were rutin (5.216±0.067 mg/g dried wt.) and gallic acid (0.296±0.068 mg/g) followed by myricetin (0.317±0.091 mg/g) then kaempferol (0.113±0.049 mg/g) as flavonoids. The antibacterial mechanism of M. laurifolia extract, as a representative species, induces ultrastructural changes in the model bacterium Staphylococcus aureus with cell wall and plasma membrane lysis as revealed by transmission electron microscopy. Overall, Mimusops species (M. laurifolia, M. kummel and M. zeyheri) are promising natural alternative sources for antimicrobial agents.
Euphemisms are advantageous in people’s social life by turning sensitive into a more acceptable ones so that resentful feelings and embarrassment can be avoided. This study investigates the ability of Iraqi English learners in using euphemistic expressions, meanwhile, raising their awareness and the faculty members in English teaching faculties regarding the relevance of discussing the topics that demand euphemisation. This study comprised three stages: initial test, explicit instruction with activities, and a final test for the students’ development in this domain. A test has been distributed among 50 respondents, who are at the fourth year of their undergraduate study at the University of Babylon/ College of Basic Education. The lo
... Show MoreThe new novel polymers nanocomposites based modified chitosan (CS) blending with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and coated gold or silver nanoparticles (AuNPs), AgNPs) were synthesized from many sequence reactions as presented in (Scheme1, 2 and 3). By utilizing 1H-NMR spectroscopy, FTIR, and Field Emission Scanning electron microscope , the synthesized compounds have been identified. Molecular docking is studied, where operations are used to predict the binding status of compounds with the enzyme and to calculate the free energy (ΔG) of the compounds prepared. Also, the antibacterial activity regarding the synthesized compounds against two resistant pathogenic bacteria (G+) S. aureus and E. coli (G-) was examined in vitro compare with standard a
... Show MoreLeishmaniasis is one of the neglected parasitic diseases, which belongs to the family Trypanosomatidae. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic in Iraq and the available drugs are of side effect or resistant by the parasite. In this study, cytotoxicity of methotrexate was investigated on the promastigotes proliferation of the Iraqi strain ofL.tropica.The results showed a significant (p ≥ 0.05) difference in growth of treated groupsat all concentration (1000, 500, 250, 125.5, 62.5, 31.25, 15.6) μM, after 24 and 48 hours of follow up, while after 72 hours, significant difference was observed at concentration(1000, 125, 62.5) μM.The IC50 measured after 24and 48 hours and it was 40.366 and 44.452 μM, respectively.The present study showed
... Show MoreThe synthesis and characterization of Schiff base and the complexities of metal ions and the evaluation of its antioxidant activities against 1.1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) will compared with standard natural antioxidants and ascorbic acid. These prepared materials gave results are due exhibit excellent radical scavenging activities for all complexes with new prepared from reaction Schiff base and metal ions for [ Mn(II), Zn (II), Cd(II), Pd(II) and Hg(II) ]. The complexes prepared characterization by spectral methods (ultraviolet visible, infrared and mass spectra) will be identified in addition to the element micro analysis, (F.A.A.), magnetic sensitivity. The molar conductance values indicated that the complexes derived from Mn(II)
... Show MoreAfter harvesting, Alfalfa plant was washed, dried and ground to get fine powder used in treatment water. We used alfalfa plant with ethanol to made alcoholic extract and characterized it applying (GC-Mass, FTIR, UV) spectroscopy to determine active compounds. Alcoholic extract was used to prepare zinc nanoparticle. We characterized Zinc nanoparticles by using FTIR, UV, SEM, EDX Zeta potential and AFM. Zinc nanoparticle with Alfalfa extract and alfalfa powder was used to treat pollutant water with pesticides and negative ions by two methods, namely Batch and continuous processing. Batch process was used two times firstly, with Alfalfa plant to treat water affected by pesticides and negative ions, after 1h pesticides (glyphosate 44.76%, sulfo
... Show MoreThis work includes preparing of some new derivatives of 1,2,4-Triazoles and oxazoles from the reaction between 3,5-dimethyl phenol and chloroethyl acetate in the presence of potassium carbonate and dry acetone to obtain the ester ethyl 3,5- dimethyl phenoxy acetate , then converted this ester to Thiosemicarbazone and Semicarbazone. Then ,the Triazoles were prepared from the cyclization of these Thiosemcarbazones and Semicarbazones in alkaline media( potassium hydroxide solution) . The prepared compounds were characterized by spectral methods FT-IR ,1H-NMR and measurement of some of its physical properties and evaluation of the biological activity for some of them.
Zerumbone is a well-known compound having anti-cancer, anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperglycemic effects. During its use for the disease treatment, the membrane of erythrocyte can be affected by consumption of this bioactive compound. The current study was the first report of investigation of the hemolytic activities on human erythrocytes and cytotoxic profile of zerumbone. The toxicity of zerumbone on human erythrocytes was determined by in vitro hemolytic assay. Brine shrimp lethality assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of zerumbone at concentrations 10, 100 and 1000 μg/mL. The human erythrocyte test showed no significant toxicity at low concentrations, whereas hemolytic effect was amplified up to 17.5
... Show MoreZerumbone is a well-known compound having anti-cancer, anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperglycemic effects. During its use for the disease treatment, the membrane of erythrocyte can be affected by consumption of this bioactive compound. The current study was the first report of investigation of the hemolytic activities on human erythrocytes and cytotoxic profile of zerumbone. The toxicity of zerumbone on human erythrocytes was determined by in vitro hemolytic assay. Brine shrimp lethality assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of zerumbone at concentrations 10, 100 and 1000 μg/mL. The human erythrocyte test showed no significant toxicity at low concentrations, whereas hemolytic effect was amplified up to 17.5 % at
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