Determination of the therapeutic potential of human umbilical cord blood

Abstract

This research was conducted to evaluate the therapeutic potential of human umbilical cord blood, by determining their effect on bacterial pathogens which included: Streptobacillus sp, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, and Escherichia coli. Cord blood samples were obtained from hospitals following consent of the women. The antimicrobial activity was determined by the agar-well diffusion method. There was significant difference (p < 0.05) in the activity observed between the different concentrations of the samples against the test bacteria, while there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) observed in the activity of the different samples against the test isolates. Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were sensitive to the samples at varying concentrations. Sample A did not yield any significant activity against most of the test organisms, possibly due to denaturation during preservation as a result of power failure. At 100 % concentration, S. aureus was most susceptible to sample B (21.7 ± 0.3 mm) and sample C (22.0 ± 0.6 mm) while E. coli was the least susceptible to sample C (11.7 ± 0.5 mm). E. coli and S. typhimurium with no zone of inhibition were observed to be the least susceptible to sample B. The MIC ranged from 12.5 % to 100 % while the MBC ranged from 25 % to 100 %. Results revealed that human cord blood could complement synthetic drugs in the fight against bacterial diseases.

Keywords: Antibacterial; Umbilical cord blood; Hematopoietic stem cells