Formulation, Physiochemical, and Microbial Assay of Henna Oil Vaginal Suppository Formulated with Polyethylene Glycol Bases.

BACKGROUND: Persian Medicine is one of the oldest and richest complementary and alternative options in the field of medicine and has a comprehensive medical system. Henna oil is recommended in Persian Medicine for the treatment of numerous women's diseases such as cervicitis. To date, henna has been used for many medical purposes, including astringent, bleeding, cardioinhibitory, hypotension, and relaxation. Accordingly, the present study aimed to provide the formulation of a henna-oil-based vaginal suppository and examine its physicochemical and antimicrobial properties. METHODS: The present study was approved and performed in accordance with the regulations of Research Council, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran, in July 2016. Different percentages of henna oil, glycerin, and gelatin, as well as henna oil and polyethylene glycol 400 and 4000, were mixed to achieve a formulation with proper appearance features and, particularly, without any oil leakage from the suppository surface. Uniformity of weight, uniformity of content, disintegration time, and dissolution test of the suppositories were evaluated. The growth-inhibiting activity of the suppositories and aqueous extract of henna was evaluated against bacteria, including the Gram-positive bacterium Gardnerella vaginalis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and group B streptococcus. RESULTS: The formulations had a smooth appearance without any cracks or fractures. Disintegration times for glycero-gelatin and polyethylene glycol suppositories were 60 and 10 min, respectively. 40% of the drug was released from polyethylene glycol suppositories after 60 min, but glycero-gelatin suppositories had no release after three hours. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of suppositories and aqueous extract were 0.4 mg/mL and 0.01 mg/mL, respectively. CONCLUSION: Polyethylene glycol suppositories had acceptable physicochemical properties, and the henna extract and suppositories inhibited the three studied pathogens.

Biotemplate of albumen for synthesized iron oxide quantum dots nanoparticles (QDNPs) and investigation of antibacterial effect against pathogenic microbial strains.

Background: Biotemplates are attractive templates for the synthesis of nanometals and inorganic compound nanostructures. Methods: In this work, for the first time, iron oxide quantum dot nanoparticles (QDNPs) were prepared using albumen as a biotemplate. Next, the prepared nanoparticles were characterized using dynamic light scattering for determination and evaluation of the hydrodynamic diameter and zeta potential of the particles. Moreover, optical and scanning electron microscopes were applied to evaluate morphology. Spherically shaped iron oxide QDNPs were obtained with appropriate particle size and distribution. Fe(NO3)3.9H2O and egg whites were used as the source of the Fe element and particle size control agent in the aqueous medium, respectively. Afterward, the effect of calcination temperature parameters on the crystallinity purity and size of Fe nanocrystals were investigated. Also, products were characterized by various detection analyses such as thermogravimetry analysis/DTA, XRD, UV-vis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR,) transmission electron microscopy, and SEM. In order to investigate the antibacterial effect of the synthesized Fe nanobiological samples against bacterial strains, they were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and diluted using distilled water. Then, different serial dilutions of 64 µg/mL, 32 µg/mL, 16 µg/mL, 8 µg/mL, 4 3BCg/mL, 2 µg/mL, 1 µg/mL, and 0.5 µg/mL of nanobiological samples were prepared and added to the Mueller-Hinton agar medium. Results: The minimum inhibitory concentration of the synthesized iron oxide quantum dot nanobiological was determined against pathogenic microbial strains of bacteria including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens, Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Klebsiella pneumonia on the culture medium plate. Conclusion: The present nanobiological samples can be considered as a new material candidate for antibacterial drugs.

Eco-Friendly and Systematic Study for Synthesis of La3+/α-Al2O3 Nanoparticles: Antibacterial Activity Against Pathogenic Microbial Strains.

PURPOSE: In this study, for the first time, new nanoparticles of La3+/α-Al2O3 were synthesized with the ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal method in the presence of honey as an eco-friendly and natural reagent. METHODS: The as-synthesized La3+/α-Al2O3 nanoparticles were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transition electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), UV-visible spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. In this work, we report optimum conditions to synthesize La3+/α-Al2O3 nanoparticles as novel material and as a candidate for antibacterial activity in antibacterial drugs. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The XRD and SEM micrograph results demonstrate the formation of pure La3+/α-Al2O3 nanoparticles with a particle size in the range of 30-80 nm. The synthesis parameters were systematically examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA) through 2k-1 factorial design, and the factors were an assay for product optimization. Various factors such as hydrothermal time, temperature, ultrasound irradiation and interaction between these factors were investigated on the product size of the products. To investigate antibacterial activity of the La3+/α-Al2O3 nanoparticles with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method, different dilutions of nanoparticles as 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 and 0.5 µg/mL were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and diluted using distilled water and added to the Mueller-Hinton agar medium containing Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens as gram-negative bacteria and Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis and Micrococcus luteus as gram-positive bacteria.

Antimicrobial activity of Bacillus sp. strain FAS1 isolated from soil.

During screening for antibiotic producing microorganisms from environmental soil samples, the supernatant of a bacterial isolate was found to have antibacterial and antifungal activity on the standard indicator species. The standard cylinder-plate method was used to determine the inhibitory effect of the crude supernatant of each isolate on 6 bacterial and 3 fungal standard strains by measuring the diameter of inhibition zone. The highest inhibition zone on Aspergillus niger belonged to culture broth of isolate FAS1 by 25 mm, and this isolate was the most efficient microorganism to inhibit standard bacterial and fungal species. Based on morphological and biochemical properties as well as 16S rDNA gene analysis, the selected isolate (isolate FAS(1)) belonged to Bacillus genus. Investigation on the ability of different culture media for antibiotic production led to select Luria-Bertani media for further studies. Treatment of the culture broth of the isolate FAS(1) using typical protease didn't decrease the antimicrobial activity of the supernatant. After extracting of culture broth of the selected isolate by ethyl acetate as an organic solvent, the inhibitory effect was mainly increased. More investigation was done by bioautography method where the ethyl acetate fraction of the broth culture was separated on TLC by chloroform:methanol, 60:40 as mobile phase and R(f) were calculated for inhibition spots.

Antituberculosis agents X. Synthesis and evaluation of in vitro antituberculosis activity of 2-(5-nitro-2-furyl)- and 2-(1-methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives.

Two series of 2-(5-nitro-2-furyl)- and 2-(1-methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-5-propyl, allyl and propargyl)thio-1,3,4-thiadiazoles (6a-f) and 2-(5-nitro-2-furyl)- and 2-(1-methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-5-(nitrobenzyl)thio-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives (8a-f) have been synthesized and evaluated against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, as part of the TAACF TB screening program under direction of the US National Institute of Health, the NIAID division. Primary screening was conducted at a single concentration, 6.25 microg mL(-1), against M. tuberculosis H37Rv in BACTEC 12B medium, using the Microplate Alamar Blue Assay (MABA). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined for the compounds that demonstrated > or = 90% growth inhibition in the primary screening. A varying degree of antituberculosis activity (from 0-97% of growth inhibition) was observed with the alkylthio series (6a-f), and the nitroimidazole derivative with a propylthio group (6b) and the nitrofuran derivative with a propargylthio group (6e), were the most active compounds (MIC=3.13 and 1.56 microg mL(-1), respectively). Among the nitrobenzylthio derivatives (8a-f), all the ortho, meta and para nitrobenzyl isomers in the nitrofuran series exhibited good antituberculosis activity (MIC=3.13 microg mL(-1)), while the corresponding nitroimidazole analogues were completely inactive (Inhibition=0%).

Synthesis and in vitro antibacterial activity of some N-(5-aryl-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl)piperazinyl quinolone derivatives.

A series of N-[5-(1-methyl-5-nitro-2-imidazolyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl] and N-[5-(nitrophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl] piperazinyl quinolone derivatives (5a-c and 5d-l) were synthesized and evaluated for in vitro antibacterial activity against some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The antibacterial data revealed that all nitroimidazole derivatives (5a-c) showed interesting activity against tested Gram-positive bacteria (minimum inhibitory concentration, MIC=0.008-0.03 microg/ml) while they did not show good activity against Gram-negative organisms. Despite the significant activity of nitroimidazole series, all nitrophenyl analogues (5d-l) were inactive against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Among all of the tested compounds, 5a (ciprofloxacin derivative in nitroimidazole series) exhibited excellent activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis (MIC=0.008 microg/ml).