There were many issues regarding trans-chalcone throughout this experiment (all regarding its insolubility), which is why we switched gears to including 4-nitrochalcone in our research. We knew that using pure DMSO would be toxic to the bacteria, however we needed a solvent that actually dissolved the compound. Diluting the DMSO with water would have not been an option because trans-chalcone is insoluble in water, especially when in higher concentrations of the compound.
Would you consider future research where-in you might wish to explore the toxicity of the dosage trans-chalcone to the human body? I.e. try to find the perfect ratio of minimizing toxicity and increasing bactericidal tendencies?
I would be highly interested in continuing the investigation of trans-chalcone, though only if we took a different approach in testing. The biggest hurdle to overcome with this compound is its insolubility in water, however, there are plenty of drugs on the market that are insoluble in water, yet were still able to be tested. If we could use a media that was not water based, the trans-chalcone could be dissolved, and more meaningful data could be made from its testing. Using absorbance values in spectrophotometry, a dose response curve could be made, where the ideal dosage could be determined.
Because other literature has suggested that 4-nitrochalcone has shown antibacterial results, I believe that if a wider range of concentrations were tested, there would be a drastic decrease in absorbance from spectrophotometry, indicating that S. Typhimurium was killed by the compound (drastically enough to be considered a “hit”). I would test higher concentrations because the sources that had success with 4-nitrochalcone used high concentrations. If this were to work, the next question would be what is the most effective dose that is not too toxic to the host organism?
Did you initially use different concentrations of DMSO when you were first testing your compounds? Or did literature indicate that you should do so before you found out that pure DMSO kills Salmonella?
We initially used 100% DMSO because trans-chalcone was insoluble in water. Therefore, we could not dilute our negative control/solvent with water. We knew that DMSO would be toxic to S. Typhimurium, but there were no other viable solvents available to us. This is why we included 4-nitrochalcone in our research as well. Since 4-nitrochalcone is soluble in water, we were able to dilute DMSO with water, and we were able to pipet the stock into the wells without having any precipitation. We were only able to use a lower concentration of DMSO in 4-nitrochalcone.
If you had more time to do the research, would you consider a different solvent that would not be as toxic to the bacteria? Do you feel that would allow your data to be more accurate?
If we were able to use another solvent with the trans-chalcone, I believe that the data would be much more accurate. However, we would also need the stock solution to dissolve in the Salmonella’s media, so we would need to change the media to something that is not water based. DMSO is not necessarily toxic, but pure DMSO is. We could not use diluted DMSO with trans-chalcone, because the compound would not dissolve in it, since it would be diluted with water.
For Trans-Chalcone, were you originally aware that pure DMSO kills your Salmonella, or was that an accidental discovery here?
There were many issues regarding trans-chalcone throughout this experiment (all regarding its insolubility), which is why we switched gears to including 4-nitrochalcone in our research. We knew that using pure DMSO would be toxic to the bacteria, however we needed a solvent that actually dissolved the compound. Diluting the DMSO with water would have not been an option because trans-chalcone is insoluble in water, especially when in higher concentrations of the compound.
Would you consider future research where-in you might wish to explore the toxicity of the dosage trans-chalcone to the human body? I.e. try to find the perfect ratio of minimizing toxicity and increasing bactericidal tendencies?
I would be highly interested in continuing the investigation of trans-chalcone, though only if we took a different approach in testing. The biggest hurdle to overcome with this compound is its insolubility in water, however, there are plenty of drugs on the market that are insoluble in water, yet were still able to be tested. If we could use a media that was not water based, the trans-chalcone could be dissolved, and more meaningful data could be made from its testing. Using absorbance values in spectrophotometry, a dose response curve could be made, where the ideal dosage could be determined.
How wide of a range would you use for concentrations in your future directions, and how drastic do you predict
the results change?
Because other literature has suggested that 4-nitrochalcone has shown antibacterial results, I believe that if a wider range of concentrations were tested, there would be a drastic decrease in absorbance from spectrophotometry, indicating that S. Typhimurium was killed by the compound (drastically enough to be considered a “hit”). I would test higher concentrations because the sources that had success with 4-nitrochalcone used high concentrations. If this were to work, the next question would be what is the most effective dose that is not too toxic to the host organism?
Did you initially use different concentrations of DMSO when you were first testing your compounds? Or did literature indicate that you should do so before you found out that pure DMSO kills Salmonella?
We initially used 100% DMSO because trans-chalcone was insoluble in water. Therefore, we could not dilute our negative control/solvent with water. We knew that DMSO would be toxic to S. Typhimurium, but there were no other viable solvents available to us. This is why we included 4-nitrochalcone in our research as well. Since 4-nitrochalcone is soluble in water, we were able to dilute DMSO with water, and we were able to pipet the stock into the wells without having any precipitation. We were only able to use a lower concentration of DMSO in 4-nitrochalcone.
You spoke so clearly!! Great job 🙂
Thank you so much! 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the video
If you had more time to do the research, would you consider a different solvent that would not be as toxic to the bacteria? Do you feel that would allow your data to be more accurate?
If we were able to use another solvent with the trans-chalcone, I believe that the data would be much more accurate. However, we would also need the stock solution to dissolve in the Salmonella’s media, so we would need to change the media to something that is not water based. DMSO is not necessarily toxic, but pure DMSO is. We could not use diluted DMSO with trans-chalcone, because the compound would not dissolve in it, since it would be diluted with water.