Antioxidant and antimicrobial responses associated with in vitro salt stress of in vitro and in vivo grown Pistacia khinjuk stocks

P. khinjuk Stocks, known as Bıttım or Buttum in Turkey, is a member of the Anacardiaceae family. The essential oil of khinjuk pistachio has been used to treat various illnesses because of their anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antipyretic, antibacterial, anthelmintic, antiviral effects in various folk medicines. At the same time, fruits of khinjuk pistachio are used as edible wild fruits. In this study, it was aimed to determine and compare the antibacterial, antioxidant activities and total phenolic and flavonoid amounts of different parts (root, stem and leaf explants) of in vivo (grown naturally) and in vitro derived khinjuk pistachio plants under salt (NaCl) stress. Ethanol extracted explants were used for performing biological and chemical parameters. According to the results, generally, in vivo samples shows higher antioxidant and antimicrobial activity besides the higher number of phenolic compounds than their counterparts in vitro. We have also determined that the biological activity of in vitro salt elicited explants was higher than in vitro control explants. Generally, both female and male in vivo samples have higher antioxidants (DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC) and antimicrobial activities than in vitro samples. The various plant parts (root, stem, leaf) belonging to both in vivo and in vitro samples have different biological activity level. In terms of antimicrobial activity, female plant extracts are more active than all other tested extracts. As a result, although increased salinity values significantly reduced antimicrobial activity, it is determined that 100 mM NaCl applications to in vitro leaf extracts exhibited moderate antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and C. albicans

Development and Prospects of Dedicated Tracers for the Molecular Imaging of Bacterial Infections

Bacterial infections have always been, and still are, a major global healthcare problem. For accurate treatment it is of utmost importance that the location(s), severity, type of bacteria, and therapeutic response can be accurately staged. Similar to the recent successes in oncology, tracers specific for molecular imaging of the disease may help advance the patient management. Chemical design and bacterial targeting mechanisms are the basis for the specificity of such tracers. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the molecular imaging tracers developed for optical and nuclear identification of bacteria and bacterial infections. Hereby we envision that such tracers can be used to diagnose infections and aid their clinical management. From these compounds we have set-out to identify promising targeting mechanisms and select the most promising candidates for further development.The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO; STW BGT 11272).http://pubs.acs.org/bchb201