Browsing by Author "Yocheva L."
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Item Antimicrobial activity and antibiotic susceptibility of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium spp. intended for use as starter and probiotic cultures(2015-01-01) Georgieva R.; Yocheva L.; Tserovska L.; Zhelezova G.; Stefanova N.; Atanasova A.; Danguleva A.; Ivanova G.; Karapetkov N.; Rumyan N.; Karaivanova E.Antimicrobial activity and antibiotic susceptibility were tested for 23 Lactobacillus and three Bifidobacterium strains isolated from different ecological niches. Agar-well diffusion method was used to test the antagonistic effect (against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Candida albicans) of acid and neutralized (pH 5.5) lyophilized concentrated supernatants (cell-free supernatant; CFS) and whey (cell-free whey fractions; CFW) from de Man Rogosa Sharpe/trypticase-phytone-yeast broth and skim milk. Acid CFS and CFW showed high acidification rate- dependent bacterial inhibition; five strains were active against C. albicans. Neutralized CFS/CFW assays showed six strains active against S. aureus (L. acidophilus L-1, L. brevis 1, L. fermentum 1, B. animalis subsp. lactis L-3), E. coli (L. bulgaricus 6) or B. cereus (L. plantarum 24-4%). Inhibition of two pathogens with neutralized CFS (L. bulgaricus 6, L. helveticus 3, L. plantarum 24-2L, L. fermentum 1)/CFW (L. plantarum 24-5D, L. plantarum 24-4%) was detected. Some strains maintained activity after pH neutralization, indicating presence of active substances. The antibiotics minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by the Epsilometer test method. All strains were susceptible to ampicillin, gentamicin, erythromycin and tetracycline. Four lactobacilli were resistant to one antibiotic (L. rhamnosus Lio 1 to streptomycin) or two antibiotics (L. acidophilus L-1 and L. brevis 1 to kanamycin and clindamycin; L. casei L-4 to clindamycin and chloramphenicol). Vancomycin MICs > 256 μg/mL indicated intrinsic resistance for all heterofermentative lactobacilli. The antimicrobially active strains do not cause concerns about antibiotic resistance transfer and could be used as natural biopreservatives in food and therapeutic formulations.Item BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF GRAPHENE NANOCOMPOSITES WITH ZINC OXIDE, Cu AND Ag NANOPARTICLES(2023-01-01) Martinov B.; Pavlova E.; Ivanova I.A.; Yocheva L.; Kostadinova A.; Staneva A.The aim of this research is to obtain collagenе nanocomposites based on graphene, graphene oxide, GO, zinc oxide and metal nanoparticles and to evaluate their pro-, antioxidant and biological activities by luminescent and standard microbiological assays. The antimicrobial activity of graphene composites with added nanosized zinc oxide, silver and copper nanoparticles was tested on Firmicutes bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 1228) and Gracillicutes Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922). The method of diffusion in agar was used in three variants - spot diffusion, well and paper-disc diffusion. The spot and diffusion disc approaches of the method have shown better effect than the well diffusion for testing the effect of graphene composites on bacteria. The composites with high ZnO content had the best antimicrobial properties against the tested bacteria. The cytotoxicity of the nanocomposites using normal MDCK and A549 epithelial sarcoma cells were tested for 24 h at a concentration of 100 mg mL-1. Cancer cells were found to be more sensitive than normal to the graphene composites, proving antitumor activity. The pro and antioxidant effects of the tested nanomaterials depend on the pH level. At physiological conditions, in the Fenton's system, all but RGO+Cu do not appear to be suitable as an implant nanomaterial. In the H2O2 oxidation system all materials present stable antioxidant effects; only ZnO+RGO+Cu is close to control prooxidant levels. When the nanomaterials are tested for oxidation by O2.- radicals, ZnO+RGO and Zn+RGO+Cu show prooxidant effects, as the prooxidant activity is kept for ZnO+RGO even at physiological acidity pH 7.4.Item Outstanding Antibacterial Activity of Hypericum rochelii—Comparison of the Antimicrobial Effects of Extracts and Fractions from Four Hypericum Species Growing in Bulgaria with a Focus on Prenylated Phloroglucinols(2023-02-01) Ilieva Y.; Marinov T.; Trayanov I.; Kaleva M.; Zaharieva M.M.; Yocheva L.; Kokanova-Nedialkova Z.; Najdenski H.; Nedialkov P.Microbial infections are by no means a health problem from a past era due to the increasing antimicrobial resistance of infectious strains. Medicine is in constant need of new drugs and, recently, plant products have had a deserved renaissance and garnered scientific recognition. The aim of this work was to assess the antimicrobial activity of ten active ingredients from four Hypericum species growing in Bulgaria, as well as to obtain preliminary data on the phytochemical composition of the most promising samples. Extracts and fractions from H. rochelii Griseb. ex Schenk, H. hirsutum L., H. barbatum Jacq. and H. rumeliacum Boiss. obtained with conventional or supercritical CO2 extraction were tested on a panel of pathogenic microorganisms using broth microdilution, agar plates, dehydrogenase activity and biofilm assays. The panel of samples showed from weak to extraordinary antibacterial effects. Three of them (from H. rochelii and H. hirsutum) had minimum inhibitory concentrations as low as 0.625–78 mg/L and minimum bactericidal concentrations of 19.5–625 mg/L against Staphylococcus aureus and other Gram-positive bacteria. These values placed these samples among the best antibacterial extracts from the Hypericum genus. Some of the agents also demonstrated very high antibiofilm activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry revealed the three most potent samples as rich sources of biologically active phloroglucinols. They were shown to be good drug or nutraceutical candidates, presumably without some of the side effects of conventional antibiotics.