Good question. The spectrophotometer absorbance measurement is measuring light going through the wells, not a measurement of bacteria concentration. Due to the color of salmonella, when there is more present in a well of the micrometer plate, the number is higher. Note, with compounds in the well the absorbance is not expected to be zero when the bacteria is killed. We used the negative control data of letting the bacteria grow prolifically in DMSO with an absorbance of ~ 0.2693 and we used positive control data with Ampicillin, which kills bacteria (a bactericidal antibiotic), to have a baseline absorbance measurement of a well when the bacteria was killed, which was ~ 0.0465. If the bacteria wasn’t killed on day 2, we would have expected Alpha-pinene’s absorbance to go up and instead we saw it stay with +/- 2 standard deviations from the Ampicillin positive control data at ~ 0.03980. Therefore we inferred our compound was killing the bacteria.
With that said, humans and bacteria cells are different and ideally the mechanism targeted in the bacteria to kill it won’t affect humans. However, without further testing we cannot determine if there are any unforeseen effects in a human or living organism.
If I understand the question correctly, you are asking about taking an untested antibiotic.
I would not recommend taking antibiotics or any drug without testing/FDA approval confirming there aren’t harmful side effects (unless you participate in a clinical trial, which would also have FDA approval because the drug had been tested in vivo/thought to have eliminated major health concerns up to that stage of testing).
Humans and bacteria cells don’t overlap in their similarities and ideally the mechanism targeted in the bacteria to kill it won’t affect humans. However, without further testing we cannot determine if there are any unknown side effects in a human or other living organism. One of the future directions highlighted in our project would be to test the compound in vivo on mice to confirm the results within a living organism to deduce if there are any unforeseen effects and/or to confirm results, moving forward in the pre-clinical trial pathway.
This experiment was specifically testing growth inhibition on Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria only, however there have been other studies we referenced in our research that tested Alpha-pinene on other specific bacteria stating it did inhibit growth in those bacteria and was an effective antibiotic in those studies. There are different types of bacteria and different mechanisms an antibiotic can target and these factors play a role in if an antibiotic is ideal for treating a specific infection.
If it did not kill all of the bacteria, similar to ampicillin, what kind of implications could it cause a human host?
Good question. The spectrophotometer absorbance measurement is measuring light going through the wells, not a measurement of bacteria concentration. Due to the color of salmonella, when there is more present in a well of the micrometer plate, the number is higher. Note, with compounds in the well the absorbance is not expected to be zero when the bacteria is killed. We used the negative control data of letting the bacteria grow prolifically in DMSO with an absorbance of ~ 0.2693 and we used positive control data with Ampicillin, which kills bacteria (a bactericidal antibiotic), to have a baseline absorbance measurement of a well when the bacteria was killed, which was ~ 0.0465. If the bacteria wasn’t killed on day 2, we would have expected Alpha-pinene’s absorbance to go up and instead we saw it stay with +/- 2 standard deviations from the Ampicillin positive control data at ~ 0.03980. Therefore we inferred our compound was killing the bacteria.
With that said, humans and bacteria cells are different and ideally the mechanism targeted in the bacteria to kill it won’t affect humans. However, without further testing we cannot determine if there are any unforeseen effects in a human or living organism.
Are there risks to taking antibiotics without prior testing?
If I understand the question correctly, you are asking about taking an untested antibiotic.
I would not recommend taking antibiotics or any drug without testing/FDA approval confirming there aren’t harmful side effects (unless you participate in a clinical trial, which would also have FDA approval because the drug had been tested in vivo/thought to have eliminated major health concerns up to that stage of testing).
Humans and bacteria cells don’t overlap in their similarities and ideally the mechanism targeted in the bacteria to kill it won’t affect humans. However, without further testing we cannot determine if there are any unknown side effects in a human or other living organism. One of the future directions highlighted in our project would be to test the compound in vivo on mice to confirm the results within a living organism to deduce if there are any unforeseen effects and/or to confirm results, moving forward in the pre-clinical trial pathway.
Does alpha-pinene only treat salmonella or could it be used to treat other infections?
This experiment was specifically testing growth inhibition on Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria only, however there have been other studies we referenced in our research that tested Alpha-pinene on other specific bacteria stating it did inhibit growth in those bacteria and was an effective antibiotic in those studies. There are different types of bacteria and different mechanisms an antibiotic can target and these factors play a role in if an antibiotic is ideal for treating a specific infection.