alum

Given the significant zoonotic threat posed by Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin (S. Dublin) and its substantial impact on animal populations and public health, the objective of the present study was to assess the immunogenicity and protectivity of subcutaneous administration of Salmonella Dublin bacterin in a murine model. 

Specific pathogen-free female BALB/c mice were tested for Salmonella-free status, and housed in controlled conditions. A formalin-killed bacterin was prepared from a local isolate of S. Dublin using a well-established protocol, ensuring bacterial inactivation and safety. Groups 1 through 3 of mice were received, respectively, either phosphate buffered saline plus alum or a single dose of inactivated bacterins with and without alum adjuvant via subcutaneous route. Immune responses were evaluated through microagglutination, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, delayed-type hypersensitivity, interferon-gamma assays, and challenge with viable S. Dublin.

Microagglutination and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests revealed alum-adjuvanted injection as the best method for stimulation of anti-S. Dublin antibodies production. The gamma interferon production and delayed hypersensitivity tests, crucial for cellular immunity, were also most elevated in mice injected with alum-adjuvanted S. Dublin bacterin. After the challenge with the live bacteria, the isolation rate of S. Dublin was significantly different (P=0.03) among the different groups but only mice injected with alum-adjuvanted showed a significant difference (P≤0.05) compared to the control group.

This study emphasizes the efficacy of alum as an adjuvant in inactivated S. Dublin vaccines. Insights gained from both humoral and cellular immune responses, provide valuable knowledge for the development of S. Dublin vaccination strategies.

Antimicrobial resistance poses a significant global health challenge, necessitating the search for novel therapeutic approaches. Streptococcus mutans , a key etiological agent in dental caries, requires innovative strategies due to its biofilm-forming ability and resistance to conventional antibiotics. Natural plant-derived compounds have garnered attention as potential antimicrobial agents with a low risk of resistance development. In this study, we investigated the synergistic antibacterial effect of a hydroalcoholic Mentha extract combined with alum against Streptococcus mutans (PTCC 16836). The well diffusion assay demonstrated that alum exhibited a larger inhibition zone diameter (12.04 ± 2.02 mm) compared to the hydroalcoholic Mentha extract (10.33 ± 1.53 mm). However, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for the hydroalcoholic Mentha extract (8.20 ± 5.57 mg/mL) and alum (0.35 ± 0.20 mg/mL) were comparable. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) for the hydroalcoholic Mentha extract was 10 mg/mL, while the MBC for alum was 0.625 ± 0.006 mg/mL. The combination of these substances demonstrated a synergistic effect, indicating enhanced antibacterial activity against Streptococcus mutans .The study's findings suggest potential applications in dentistry, offering a natural and effective adjunctive treatment for dental caries management. The underlying mechanisms of this synergistic effect warrant further exploration. To translate these promising findings into clinical applications, further in vivo investigations and rigorously designed clinical trials are necessary to establish the safety and efficacy of this combination therapy. The natural origin of these substances may provide an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective approach in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

The combined use of plant-based and chemical coagulants, such as aluminium or iron salts can reduce the use of chemical coagulants while providing sufficient efficiency in removing suspended solids. This experimental research investigated the effect of Descurainia sophia seed extract (DSSE) in conjunction with the aluminium sulphate (alum) on turbidity removal efficiency.

D-Optimal design using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used for experimental design to investigate the effects of operating factors on responses and the potential interactions between these factors.

The results showed that, when starting with an initial turbidity of 200 NTU, the maximum achieved turbidity removal efficiency of 91.45% (Run 1) was attained by using only alum at an optimized concentration of 59.5 mg/L and a pH 6. However, when the initial turbidity was 200 NTU, pH 7, and the alum concentration was reduced to 40 mg/L, and the DSSE/water ratio was increased to 16 mL/L, a turbidity removal efficiency of 93.45% (Run 35) was obtained.

DSSE can be used as a plant-based coagulant along with alum to reduce alum consumption and improve the coagulation and flocculation of suspended solids in water. By incorporating this extract, the removal of impurities and reduction of turbidity can be effectively promoted.

 Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium) is one of the causative agents of intestinal and extraintestinal infections in humans. Symptoms of the mouse infection by this bacterium mimic typhoid fever in humans. Adjuvants are compounds that enhance the effectiveness of vaccines in combination with them. Alum as an adjuvant causes a shift towards Th2 immune and strengthens the humoral immunity responses. Cisplatin is a highly effective anti-tumor drug that stimulates immune responses by activating macrophages and other immune cells and is used in tumor immunotherapy. This study aimed to investigate the role of cisplatin and the cisplatin-alum mixture as adjuvants to increase the efficacy of vaccination against S. typhimurium in Balb/c mice.

 Male BALB/c mice were divided into five groups. Mice in the experimental groups received either the HKST vaccine alone or in combination with the adjuvants alum, cisplatin, or the cisplatin-alum. Mice in the negative control group received phosphate-buffered saline. All mice were immunized two times on days 0 and 14. Two weeks after the last immunization, immune responses to S. typhimurium were assessed by measuring the survival rate after challenge with a lethal dose of bacterium, bacterial load in the liver, interferon-gamma, and S. typhimurium-specific IgG1 and IgG2a production. 

 The numbers of colonies in the spleen and liver cultures in all dilutions were significantly lower in cisplatin-vaccine, and cisplatin-alum vaccine immunized mice. The average rate of specific IgG2a was higher in the same groups compared to other groups. The survival rate in alum-vaccine, cisplatin-vaccine, and cisplatin-alum-vaccine groups was significantly higher than in the control group. The average rate of Interferon-gamma in cisplatin-vaccine and cisplatin- alum vaccine groups, was significantly higher than other groups.

 This study is the first to determine the role of administrating cisplatin and alum-cisplatin mixture on increasing the efficiency of the HKST vaccine in a mouse model. This study confirmed the role of cisplatin and cisplatin-alum mixture in increasing the efficiency of the HKST vaccine by using different experiments.

The introduction of novel adjuvants is an important step in attempts to develop a safe and more efficient vaccine. The present study was performed to determine whether the use of a mixed beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol (PRP) and aluminum (alum), as an adjuvant, have efficacy for Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) vaccine to induce protective immunity in a mouse model.

Female BALB/c mice divided into five groups were immunized with excretory-secretory antigens (ESA) vaccine, alum-ESA vaccine, PRP-ESA vaccine, and alum-PRP ESA vaccine, as well as with phosphate buffered saline (PBS), as a negative control group. The immune responses were evaluated by lymphocyte proliferation assay for measuring delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response and by cytokine assay for evaluating IFN-γ and IL-5 levels. The survival rate of mice in all groups was assessed during a three-week monitoring period after an intraperitoneal challenge with T. gondii tachyzoites.

The results showed that mice immunized with PRP, as an adjuvant, could secret a higher level of IFN-γ, which was significant in comparison to other groups. However, mice vaccinated with alum-precipitated ESA antigen had ability to produce an elevated level of IL-5 compared to other mouse groups (p≤0.05). Moreover, alum-PRP co-administration together with ESA vaccine resulted in the longer survival of mice.

The findings of this study revealed that the combination of alum-PRP adjuvants and ESA vaccine of T. gondii elicits both humoral and cellular immune responses, which are comparable to either alum or PRP alone.

Many kinds of inorganic polymers have been developed, but, amongst them, polyaluminum chloride (PACl) is one of the most common kinds and has become most widely applied.
The main objective in this research was the evaluation of three coagulants efficiency in the turbidity removal of Karoun river water in water treatment plant (WTP) of Kut-e Amir in different turbidity ranges of 0 to > 20000 NTU.
For evaluation of the three coagulants efficiency (including polyaluminum chloride (PACL), aluminum sulfate (Alum) and ferric chloride) a jar-test was done for every turbidity range. In this research, coagulant aid (Besfloc) was added when samples turbidity were > 300 NTU. Turbidity of samples were measured by the turbidity meter with the model of HACH2100N.
According to the results, it was clear that PACL and Ferric Chloride had the better results in turbidity removal in comparison with Alum. Considering Ferric Chloride is cheaper than PACL and Alum, WTPs prefer to use Ferric Chloride. Economic analysis in WTP of Kut-e Amir showed that using Ferric Chloride achieved less costs in comparison with PACL and Alum.
Considering close and suitable results of Ferric Chloride and PACL in turbidity removal and more economical efficiency of ferric chloride than PACL, it’s recommended to be used from ferric chloride with Besfloc when turbidity is under 6500 NTU. In the end, injection of coagulants different doses did not vary pH samples significantly.

Influenza vaccine production process is time-consuming with little-to-no cross-protection which requires annual adjustment. The construction of a universal vaccine to deal with the pandemics and epidemics which occasionally threat human population is the aim of many researches worldwide. Today, influenza vaccines are mostly against two major antigenic proteins, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. As compared to high variable globular head, the hemagglutinin stalk domain is more conserved among different subtypes of influenza A viruses which could be a good candidate to develop a cross-protective vaccine. In this study, recombinant HA2 protein comprising fusion peptide was expressed in E.coli, purified using Ni-TED columns, refolded and desalted by dialysis. BALB/c mice in different groups were immunized with HA2 alone or supplemented with Alum or Alum/CPG. Vaccinated mice sera were examined for anti-HA2 specific IgG responses. Finally, mice were challenged with one LD90 of mouse-adapted A/PR8 virus. The results showed that HA2 recombinant protein could provoke immunogenicity in BALA/c mice and this immune response could be elevated with Alum and Alum/CpG. Despite promising immune responses, there was insignificant protection of HA2-immunized mice when challenged with the mouse-adapted strain A/PR8. Therefore, HA2 protein alongside with other influenza virus conserved proteins should be studied to achieve a suitable vaccine formulation for broad spectrum cross-reactive immune responses.

The refining process generates large volumes of wastewater containing a variety of chemical contaminants. The use of natural substitutes in treating wastewater which have fewer harmful effects is considered an effective step towards protecting the environment and sustaining the development of these industries. This study focused on the use of Moringa oleifera and alum at the Wastewater Unit at Bandar Abbas Refinery.
This study was performed in 2014 in a laboratory using jar apparatus. These experiments were conducted in batch system and effective parameters including pH, coagulant dose and contact time were investigated on the wastewater obtained from Bandar Abbas Oil Refinery.
The jar test experiment showed that M. oleifera at 70 mg/L, optimum temperature, pH, and mixing speed could remove 38.60% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 63.70% of turbidity, and 62.05% of total suspended solids (TSS). Also, alum at 40 mg/L removed COD, turbidity, and TSS by 51.72%, 92.16%, and 85.26% respectively from the refinery wastewater. Moreover, when M. oleifera and alum was used together with a 2:1 dosage ratio (alum at 80 mg/L and M. oleifera at 70 mg/L), they will remove COD, turbidity, and TSS by up to 50.41%, 86.14%, and 81.52% respectively.
The use of M. oleifera as a natural coagulant is important in treating refinery wastewater not only from an environmental but also an economic point of view.

In this study, for the first time, MF59 adjuvant was used to develop a cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) vaccine. The efficacy of the vaccine was compared with the efficacy of CETP vaccine formulated with Alum/CpG, the formulation that its immunogenicity has been already demonstrated in rabbit and mice.
Tetanus toxoid- CETP peptide (TT-CETP) was mixed with Alum/CpG or MF59-like and administered subcutaneously for total five times in rabbit model of atherosclerosis. Anti-TT-CETP specific antibody, CETP activity in sera and mRNA level of cytokine IL-4 and IFN-γ in peripheral mononuclear cells were determined. Therapeutic response was also examined by tracking serum lipoprotein levels and pathologic observation of atherosclerotic lesions at aortic site.
More anti-TT-CETP antibody was found in Alum/CpG vaccinated rabbits compared to buffer (P It is concluded that MF59-adjuvanted CETP vaccine showed anti-atherosclerosis properties, but the protective effect could not be directly attributed to the immune response induced by anti TT-CETP antibody and CETP inhibition. Further studies are needed to explain the anti-atherosclerosis properties of MF59 in the presence of TT-CETP peptide.

Many types of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have been identified, with some leading to cancer and others to skin lesions such as anogenital warts. Studies have demonstrated an association between oncogenic HPV and cervical cancer and many researchers have focused on therapeutic vaccines development. At present, the modulatory effect of opioids on the innate and acquired immune system is characterized. Antagonists of opioid receptors such as naloxone (NLX) can contribute to the shifting Th2 response toward Th1. Herein; we studied the adjuvant activity of NLX/Alum mixture for improvement of the immunogenicity of HPV-16E7d vaccine.
The mice were administered different regimens of vaccine; E7d, E7d-NLX, E7d-Alum, E7d-NLX-Alum, NLX, alum and PBS via subcutaneous route for three times with two weeks interval. Two weeks after the last immunization, the sera were assessed for total antibody, IgG1 and IgG2a with an optimized ELISA method. The splenocytes culture supernatant was analyzed by ELISA for the presence of IL-4, IFN-g and IL-17 cytokines and lymphocyte proliferation was evaluated with Brdu method.
Immunization of mice with HPV-16 E7d vaccine formulated in NLX/Alum mixture significantly increased lymphocyte proliferation and Th1 and Th17 cytokines responses compared to other experimental groups. Analysis of humoral immune responses revealed that administration of vaccine with NLX/Alum mixture significantly increased specific IgG responses and also isotypes compared to control groups.
NLX/Alum mixture as an adjuvant could improve cellular and humoral immune responses and the adjuvant maybe useful for HPV vaccines model for further studies in human clinical trial.

Nitrate is an acute and well-known hazardous contaminant, and its contamination of water sources has been a growing concern worldwide in recent years. This study evaluated the feasibility of nitrate removal from water using the traditional coagulants alum and ferric chloride with lower concentrations than those used in the conventional coagulation process.
In this research, two coagulants, alum and ferric chloride, were compared for their efficiency in removing nitrate in a conventional water treatment system. The removal process was done in a batch system (jar test) to examine the effects of coagulant dosages and determine the conditions required to achieve optimum results.
The results revealed that ferric chloride at an initial dose rate of 4 mg/L reduced nitrate concentration from 70 mg/L to less than the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value (50 mg/L N-NO3). However, the removal efficiency of alum was not salient to significant nitrate reduction.
In conclusion, ferric chloride was more effective than alumin removing NO-3, even in common dosage range, and can be considered a cost-effective and worthy treatment option to remediate nitrate-polluted water. Furthermore, the removal of nitrate by coagulation can be simple and more economical than other treatment alternatives.

Colloidal materials and suspended solids cause turbidity in water. To remove turbidity, clarification method is used that includes processes of coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation. Due to the long duration of coagulation process, coagulant aids are applied. Despite the favorable efficiency of synthetic polyelectrolytes as a coagulant aid, due to their harmful effects on human health, in this process natural organic polymers are used instead.
In this research, the use of tragacanth as a natural organic coagulant aid instead of synthetic polymers in water turbidity removal along with alum and poly aluminum chloride is studied. To compare the experiments with natural conditions, Karun River water is analyzed. To complete these studies, the effects of several factors such as tragacanth concentration, the concentration of alum and poly aluminum chloride, and pH changes in average and low turbidity are investigated. Optimum pH for turbidity removal was determined by jar testing.
The results showed that the best pH to remove turbidity is 5.5 to 7, with the efficiency of 97.3%. At PH = 6 and at the concentration of 30 mg/L, poly ammonium chloride has maximum efficiency (90%). Using tragacanthat concentrations of 1 and 4 mg/L along with alum at a concentration of 40 mg/L leads to turbidity removal of 81.75%.
Using 2 and 4 mg/L of tragacanth, a significant removal efficiency is achieved in low and average turbidity.pH=7 leads to the most efficient use of tragacanth coagulant aid.

Fluoride counts an essential element for human health. Therefore, both low and excessive concentrations of that element in drinking water may cause health problems for the consumers. The present study aims to optimize fluoride base in drinking water using Alum response surface methodology.
The present study is an analytical research which uses surface response method based on Bax Banken model for the optimizing of variable effects in elimination of drinking water fluoride where Spectrophotometer (UNICO-(UV/VIS), model 2150 according to the method of SPADNS presented in standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater has been employed. Three variables of initial concentration of fluoride, PH, and Alum were studied in three levels (, 0,-1). The required numbers of samples were 17 according to the model. Experimental results were analyzed using Design Expert 7 software. The experiments were carried out randomly in order to the elimination of systematic error. The research data were analyzed using multiple regression and coefficients as well as ANOVA where (P≤0.05) determined as significant level.
The results showed that initial concentration of fluoride, PH, and Alum are effective in determining the optimal sitaation. Each of these factors increases the efficiency of fluoride elimination to a certain level and after that which the efficiency decreases. In this process optimal conditions included initial concentration of fluoride3.25 mg/L, PH 6.55, and Alum concentration of 166 mg/L where in an efficient condition. Fluoride elimination equal to 76.83% with a desirability of 97.2%.
The results showed good agreement wbetween experimental and model predictions. It can be concluded that response surface methodology is a useful method for optimization of operating factors for the process of coagulation.