Antimicrobial potential of polylysine in edible films

The antimicrobial activity of edible films from whey proteins, alginate, zein and chitosan incorporated with polylysine (PL) and PL- ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Na 2EDTA) combination have been tested on different bacteria including Escherichia coli, Listeria innocua, Salmonella Typhimurium and Stapylococcus aureus. The PL-containing films of whey proteins, alginate and chitosan were effective on L. innocua, but had limited effect on E. coli. On the other hand, the PL-containing zein films showed good antimicrobial activity on both E. coli and L. innocua as well as on S. aureus. PL-Na 2EDTA combination also gave zein films effective on S. Typhimurium. The incorporation of PL alone or PL-Na 2EDTA combination did not cause any significant change in mechanical properties of zein films. Zein has a good potential to develop novel antimicrobial packaging materials incorporated with PL

Convolvulus plant—A comprehensive review from phytochemical composition to pharmacy

Convolvulus genus is a representative of the family of Convolvulaceae. Convolvulus plants are broadly distributed all over the world and has been used for many centuries as herbal medicine. Convolvulus genus contains various phytochemicals such as flavonoids, alkaloids, carbohydrates, phenolic compounds, mucilage, unsaturated sterols or terpenes, resin, tannins, lactones, and proteins. This review highlights the phytochemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, application as food preservative, traditional medicine use, anticancer activities, and clinical effectiveness in human of Convolvulus plants. All the parts of Convolvulus plants possess therapeutic benefits; preliminary pharmacological data validated their use in traditional medicine. However, further preclinical and clinical experiments are warranted before any application in human health