Determination of vasicine alkaloid efficacy as inhibitor to the activity of protease produced by a clinical isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

In the present study, the effect of vasicine alkaloid separated from Adhatoda vasica as an inhibitor agent on the activity of proteases enzyme isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa was investigated. forty isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were collected from local hospital in Baghdad and then their ability for producing proteases was screened using quantification and semi- quantitative methods. Pseudomonas aeruginosa P1 was selected as the highest protease producer, which next identified as P. aeruginosa. It was found that the optimum culture conditions for protease production in submerged culture was in the tryptic - soya broth medium at 37° C with pH 8 for 48 hours. In addition, the study involved extraction and partial purification of vacisine alkaloid from crude leaves of Adhatoda vasica by separation and precipitation that was 0.6% of vasicine The results revealed a significant effect of the extracted vasicine on the activity of protease enzyme as its activity was decreased from 15.5U / ml to 1.2 U/ml when treated with vasicine at a concentration of 0.8ml with an inhibitory effect of 92.2%.