Defensins are a family of secreted antimicrobial peptides proposed to directly interfere with bacterial membranes. Here we show a functional analysis of the novel -defensin DEFB123. A peptide comprising the -defensin core region was synthesized and used for our analysis. Like other -defensins, DEFB123 exerted antimicrobial activity against a broad spectrum of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bac...

Most of the world’s populations residing in developing countries depend on alternative medicine and use of plant ingredients. Caesalpinia pulcherrima (Fabaceae) is used in folk medicine for the treatment of various diseases including asthma, bronchitis, cholera, diarrhea, dysentery and malarial infection. The present study was undertaken to determine antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic act...

Efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) are attractive compounds to reverse multidrug-resistance in clinically relevant bacterial pathogens. In this study we tested the ability of the neuroleptic drug pimozide to inhibit the Escherichia coli AcrAB-TolC efflux pump, whose overproduction confers resistance to various antimicrobial agents. A real-time Nile red efflux assay in the AcrAB - overproducing strai...

The main aim of the study was to evaluate the antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic potential of crude extract of Marine Streptomyces species isolated from soil of Chennai coast, Tamilnadu. Primary and Secondary screening for antimicrobial activity was determined by Cross streak method and Agar well diffusion method respectively. Gram positive bacteria were found most sensitive to the actino...

BACKGROUND THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS: i) to compare the results of urine culture with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) -based detection of microorganisms using two commercially available kits, ii) to assess antimicrobial susceptibility of urine isolates from cancer patients to chosen antimicrobial drugs and, if necessary, to update the recommendation of empirical therapy. MATERIALS AND M...

Current antimicrobial susceptibility testing has limited screening capability for identifying empirical antibiotic combinations to treat severe bacterial infections with multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms. We developed a new antimicrobial susceptibility assay using automated ultra-high-throughput screen technology in combination with a simple bacterial growth assay. A rapid screening of 5170 a...

Three native Turkish medicinal and aromatic plants (Artemisia absinthum, Artemisia santonicum and Saponaria officinalis) were investigated to analyze their antioxidant activity, total phenolic content and antimicrobial activity. Their total antioxidant activity was determined by using a β-carotene bleaching assay and their antimicrobial activity was determined by utilizing an agar disc diffusio...

Rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is urgently needed for informing treatment decisions and preventing the spread of antimicrobial resistance resulting from the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. To date, no phenotypic AST exists that can be performed within a single patient visit (30 min) directly from clinical samples. We show that AST results can be obtained by using digital nu...

In this study, the antioxidant and antimicrobial potentials of ethanol extract aerial parts Lepidium spinosum Ard., which is distributed in many regions world, were determined. The plant dried, powdered extracted with ethanol. Total status (TAS), total oxidant (TOS) oxidative stress index (OSI) determined using Rel Assay Diagnostics kits. Antimicrobial activities against standard bacterial fung...

BACKGROUND The emergence of drug resistant pathogens becomes a crucial problem for infectious diseases worldwide. Among these bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of which highly resists to many currently used drugs and becomes a major concern in public health. Up till now, the search for potential antimicrobial agents has been still a challenge for researchers. METHODS Broth microdilution...