RESUMO
Phenolic compounds in herbs have high antioxidant activities, and their consumption as functional foods may impact human health positively. The main objective of this study was to investigate the total phenolic (TPC) and total flavonoid (TFC) contents as well as total antioxidant capacities (TAC) of bioactive compounds in various infusions prepared by herbs collected from the Bingöl region of Turkey during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. According to the results, while the highest TPC (5836 ± 373 mg GAE/100 g dw), TFC (2301 ± 158 CE/100 g, dw), and TAC (1347 mg TE/100 g dw) were obtained with Anchusa azurea Mill. species, Crataegus orientalis exhibited the lowest values (863 ± 24 mg GAE/100 g dw, 242 ± 23 CE/100 g dw, 735 ± 47 mg TE/100 g dw, respectively). Gallic acid and chlorogenic acid were the most common phenolic compounds in the infusions. In detail, the highest gallic acid was found in E. spectabilis M. Bieb (27.3 ± 0.9 mg/100 g of dw) and the highest chlorogenic acid was observed in F. elaeochytris (919.2 ± 35.7 mg/100 g of dw). After in vitro gastrointestinal digestion, the highest bioaccessibility values of TPC and TFC were determined as 0.6- and 3-fold of the values observed in undigested C. orientalis, respectively. Besides, C. orientalis Pall. had the highest bioaccessibility of TAC according to the DPPH (6.7-fold increase) and CUPRAC (9.7-fold increase) assays. It can be concluded that the use of these medicinal herbs in human dietary intake due to their high bioactive compounds even after digestion can improve nutritional value and contribute to human health.
RESUMO
The aims of this study were to determine the existence of pvl gene, some toxin genes, and mecA gene in Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from sheep milk and to examine antimicrobial resistance profiles in staphylococci from sheep and goats' milk. The milk samples were collected from 13 different small ruminant farms in Kirikkale province from February to August 2009. A total of 1,604 half-udder milk samples from 857 ewes and 66 half-udder milk samples from 33 goats were collected. Staphylococcus spp. were isolated and identified from the samples. Toxin genes and mecA gene among S. aureus strains were determined by PCR. Antimicrobial susceptibility of staphylococci was examined by the disk diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar, and interpreted according to the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. The prevalence of subclinical intramammary infection in both ewes and goats was 5.2%. The most prevalent subclinical mastitis agents were coagulase-negative staphylococci and S. aureus with prevalences 2.8% (n:46) and 1.3% (n = 21), respectively. The prevalence of resistances in isolated Staphylococcus spp. to penicilin G, tetracycline, erythromycin, gentamicin, and enrofloxacin were found as 26.9% (18), 7.5% (5), 6.0% (4), 3.0% (2), and 1.5% (1), respectively. Only 3 of the 21 S. aureus ewe isolates (13.4%) were shown to harbor enterotoxin genes being either seh, sej or sec. However, fourteen (66.6%) of the 21 S. aureus isolates had pvl gene while none of the isolates harbored mecA gene. In conclusion, Staphylococci were shown to be the most prevalent bacteria isolated from subclinical mastitis of ewes and goats and these isolates were susceptible to most of the antibiotics. In addition, S. aureus strains isolated from ewes were harboring few staphylococcal enterotoxin genes. However, Panton-Valentine leukocidin produced by S. aureus could be an important virulence factor and contribute to subclinical mastitis pathogenicity.