The antibacterial activity of peppermint oil and different extracts of Mentha piperita against some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains was evaluated in the present research work by agar well diffusion method. It was found that the distilled concentrations of essential oil inhibited the growth of microorganisms and the results were comparable with those of antibiotic gentamycin. Essential oils showed a wider spectrum of activity but less strong inhibition as compared to the investigated commercial antibiotic. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for the bacterial species ranged from 0.4% to 0.7% v/v. The oil and extracts also exhibited significant antioxidant activity and the oil showed about half potency when compared to the standard BHT. These results indicated the strong antibacterial and antioxidant activities of peppermint oil but additional investigations need to be performed in order to confirm the safety of these concentrations (MIC) for human consumption. Peppermint oil could be used as a good conservation agent by inhibiting some food borne pathogens. arabic 8 English 54
Rajinder Singh, Muftah A. Shushni, Asma Belkheir(5-2015)

Six new naphthalenone derivatives, balticols A-F and the known metabolite altechromone A were isolated from the AcOEt extract of the culture broth of fungal strain 222 belonging to the Ascomycota, which was found on driftwood collected at the coast of the Greifswalder Bodden, Baltic Sea, Germany. All structures were elucidated on the basis of NMR spectroscopic data and mass spectrometric analyses. The balticols were found to exhibit inhibitory activity against influenza virus A and herpes simplex virus. The most potent antiviral activity was observed for balticol E with an IC(50) value of 0.01 microg/ml against Herpes simplex virus type I. arabic 14 English 83
Muftah A. Shushni, Renate Mentel, Ulrike Lindequist, Rolf Jansen(2-2009)

The ever-increasing demand for natural products and biotechnology, derived from bees and ultramodernization of various analytical devices, has facilitated the rational and planned development of biotechnology products with a focus on human health to treat chronic and neglected diseases. This study aimed to prepare, characterize and examine the stability and evaluation of the antioxidant and the antibacterial activity of Libyan propolis. Propolis Nanoparticles PNP were prepared using particle size reduction, then Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) at a magnification of X 25000, was used for accurate evaluation of the size distribution of NPs. Three different concentration (10, 5, 2.5 mg/ml) of propolis and nano-propolis powder were tested for their 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity. The quantitative antioxidant activity test results using UV Spectrophotometer absorbance at 517 nm. The antibacterial activities of propolis and prepared nano propolis at different concentrations (10, 5 and 2.5mg/ml) were tested on bacterial strain, Klebsiella, human mouth, skin, and surface bacteria using cup cut diffusion method. The findings exhibited that the prepared propolis Nanoparticles (PNPs) were generally non-spherical with a size 100-200 nm. The PNP was a nano-sized particle around 316 nm in diameter. Zeta potential of PNP showed a negative surface charge value (− 48 mV) which was sufficiently high to avoid NPs aggregation. This value represents a stable and dispersed suspension of NPs and disables the tendency of aggregations in a short in period of time. Poly dispersity index (PdI) of synthetized PNP was used as a measurement of the size distribution. PdI values for PrNP were generally uniform with PdI 0.3 indicating monodispersity of the prepared systems. The propolis and PNPs displayed good antioxidant activity with inhibition percentage (77%, 46% and 18%) for propolis and (82%, 66% and 37%) for PNPs. Propolis nanoparticles showed to have more antibacterial effect compared to propolis. Libyan propolis nanoparticles has shown to be potential candidates as antioxidant and antibacterial agent.
sakina Salem Saadawi, Rabia O Alghazeer, Hanin N. Mughrbi, Bushra M. Dakhil, Rokaya O. Amara, Khairi A. Alennabi, Riham M. El-Moslemany, Khadija O. Turkman, Masarra A. Daraweel(3-2022)