References
The aim of this experiment is to test the effectiveness of Vidatox as an antibiotic for Salmonella Typhimurium. Vidatox is connected to malign cells that prevent blood vessel development, cutting off nutrient supply to the tumor. Vidatox is also high in vitamin C which helps increase the immune systems resistance. The experimental process consisted of a max dose trial, dose response curve, and a bacteriostatic/cidal experiment. These experiments aimed to find the optimal dosage and its bacteriostatic/cidal properties. From our first trial it was clear that Vidatox would not work as an antibiotic, often acting more as a growth promoter than anything. Our study provides a strong foundation for further experimentation with vidatox, possibly in a more concentrated form or through other methods of implementation.
Introduction
Future Directions
Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
University of Colorado Boulder
Gus Conant, Jordan Wubbena
The effect of Vidatox on Salmonella Typhimurium growth
Abstract
Results
The Problem
Acknowledgments
Methods
Hypothesis
Vidatox, being a compound discovered in Cuba, has a language barrier in which finding concentrations has been proven to be difficult. According to some studies, Vidatox at higher concentrations, like chemotherapies, has shown promise with decreasing tumor size and some articles show bacteriostatic properties as well. In future trials, using Vidatox as a chemotherapy might prove to work better and provide different results than the ones found in this study where Vidatox was being used as an antibiotic.
Conclusions
In the year 2050, there will be more deaths due to antibiotic resistant bacteria than cancer. Yet, there has been hardly any effort to discover new antibiotics due to time-consuming processes and expenses. An antibiotic is a compound that inhibits or kills bacteria within the body, and a lot of our current antibiotics have been found in nature, more specifically the ground in dirt. However, new antibiotic groups are hard to find due to all the “low hanging apples already having been pick”. And especially recently, antibiotic resistant bacteria are able to avoid and/or hide from the antibiotic’s tactics to kill the bacteria. This resistance is due to random mutations within the bacteria cell which then multiply to create more antibiotic resistant bacteria to eventually take over the organism. These kinds of bacteria have been thriving in farms, agriculture, and even hospitals.
We found a potential antibiotic in Vidatox as it was reported to decrease tumor size and was shown to prolong lives in cancer patients. In an article given by Cuba Medic, they stated Vidatox was connected to malign cells that would prevent blood vessel development which would cut off nutrient supply to the tumor.
Due to the growing, and life threatening, problem of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, we are experimenting with Salmonella Typhimurium. Salmonella causes about 1.35 million infections a year with its serotypes typhi, causing typhoid fever, and typhimurium, causing food poisoning. This Gram-negative bacteria is able to protect itself from acidification by lysosomes in macrophages from the immune system. This random mutation mechanism is the T3SS, equipped to stop fusion with the lysosome creating a nice environment for the Salmonella to replicate in. Due to safety and financial purposes, we will be using S. Typhimurium.
Thank you to Dr. Corrie Detweiler for the awareness being brought to the future doctors and researchers of the world about this detrimental issue. A special thanks to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Biological Sciences Initiative (BSI) for the funding that made this research lab possible. Thank you to the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Department at the University of Colorado Boulder for giving us Dr. Pamela Harvey who started this lab as well as made learning about this topic not only fun but engaging. Last but not least our amazing TAs, specifically Daniel for the support and guidance throughout this process.
Figure 2: No new classes of antibiotics have been discovered since the 1980s
Figure 3: Statista predicts more deaths from antimicrobial resistant infections than cancer in 2050
Max Dose Trial
Dose Response Curve
Bacteriostatic/
Bactericidal
Purpose:
To test a range of dosages of our compound to find the lowest concentration that is still effective.
Purpose:
To find if our compound prevents the growth of new Salmonella or if it kills the Salmonella cells.
Purpose:
To test the highest concentration of our compound to determine if it has any antibacterial potential
Overview:
-Add pos. and neg. control to salmonella
-Add 10µL of Vidatox to Salmonella
-Incubate at 37ºC for 24hrs
Overview:
-Create a 1:10 dilution series of Vidatox with 5 concentrations
-Combine 10µL of each concentration of Vidatox with 90µL Salmonella
-Incubate @37ºC for 24hrs
Overview:
-Repeat entire Max dose
-After incubation, put 90µL M9 media in 6 wells on a new plate
-Add 10µL of previous wells to new wells
-Incubate for another 24hrs
Figure 1. Rekom
Biotech, 2023
Figure 5: Vidatox was a hit with respect to the negative control (DMSO) in the max dose trial. Although it was statistically a “hit”, it was above 2 standard deviations from the mean of the DMSO, meaning it was a growth promoter.
Figure 6: Vidatox was a statistical hit at only of the concentrations we tried in our dilution series. The 100% concentration of Vidatox was a hit, but it acted as a growth promoter. All the other concentrations were insignificant and were very similar to our negative control.
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Figure 4: Left 6 wells represent max dose and bacteriostatic vs. bactericidal and right 8 wells represent our dose response trial
Vidatox showed no antibacterial properties in all of our groups trials. There was no reduction in the growth of Salmonella Typhimurium, proving our hypothesis, that Vidatox must be a bactericidal antibiotic when given in smaller amounts, was not to be supported.
Although Vidatox was not a successful antibiotic, there were some interesting finds in our research. Vidatox at our highest dosage worked as a growth promoter Salmonella Typhimurium. This result contradicts our research and asks questions about the validity and research/testing done on Vidatox.
Further testing could be done to examine the interaction between Vidatox and Maligin cells to determine whether a different form of vidatox could be effective.
Due to research on Vidatox showing bactericidal properties with decreasing tumor size and amplifying the immune system it will be below two standard deviations of the negative control’s mean, killing S. Typhimurium.