Silymarin and its flavonolignan isomers, silybin, isosilybin, dehydrosilybin, silychristin, silydianin, and a few flavonoids mainly taxifolin, have been subjected to a variety of antimicrobial investigations due to extensive traditional uses and low side effects. Antimicrobial activities for silymarin and active seed extracts of Silybum marianum against different bacteria, fungi, viruses and pa...

These days it has been increasingly recognized that mast cells (MCs) are critical components of host defense against pathogens. In this study, we have provided the first evidence that MCs can kill bacteria by entrapping them in extracellular structures similar to the extracellular traps described for neutrophils (NETs). We took advantage of the ability of MCs to kill the human pathogen Streptoc...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), shed by gram-negative bacteria during infection and antimicrobial therapy, may lead to lethal endotoxic shock syndrome. A rational design strategy based on the presumed mechanism of antibacterial effect was adopted to design cationic antimicrobial peptides capable of binding to LPS through tandemly repeated sequences of alternating cationic and nonpolar residues. The p...

thymus vulgaris is a plant from lamiasceae family. the antimicrobial activities of t. vulgaris essential oil and extract depend on the phenolic compounds like carvacrol, thymol, γ-terpinene and p-cymene, which are reported to have antibacterial properties. in this research the antimicrobial effect of different concentration (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4%)of thymus vulgaris extract was studied on salmonella...

background: the development of resistance to antimicrobial agents is a major problem in chemotherapy. finding agents which potentiate antimicrobial activity could be favorable. there are some reports that methylxanthines changed the inhibitory effect of antibacterial agents. thus, possible synergistic effect of methylxanthines, aminophylline and caffeine on some antibiotics, carbenicillin, ceft...

herbs have been used for its medicinal properties from several thousand years ago. herbs, essences and extracts, possess a variety level of biological activities and antimicrobial activities of a large number of them have been proved. eucalyptus is one of these plants which the anti-virus effects of its extract has long been used to treat influenza and colds in most parts of the world. the aim ...

BACKGROUND Propolis and honey are natural bee products with wide range of biological and medicinal properties. The study investigated antimicrobial activity of ethyl alcohol extraction of propolis collected from Saudi Arabia (EEPS) and from Egypt (EEPE), and their synergistic effect when used with honey. Single and polymicrobial cultures of antibiotic resistant human pathogens were tested. MA...

The mechanisms by which probiotic strains enhance the health of the host remain largely uncharacterized. Here we demonstrate that Lactobacillus salivarius UCC118, a recently sequenced and genetically tractable probiotic strain of human origin, produces a bacteriocin in vivo that can significantly protect mice against infection with the invasive foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. A stabl...

The effect of the addition of lactoferrin on Staphylococcus aureus to Minas frescal cheese was evaluated. Three cheeses were made: control (S. aureus), Lf-2% (2% lactoferrin + S. aureus) and Lf-4% (4% lactoferrin + S. aureus). Cheeses were packaged and S. aureus populations were determined on days 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 of storage at 6 degrees C. The experiment was repeated three times. S. aureus ...