[czernobill]

Hello,

I am trying to dissolve preen gland secretion of birds in aqueous solution containing bacteria to test the antimicrobial activity of the secretion. The preen gland secretion is likely to consists of a mixture of waxes, (fatty) alcohols, fatty acids and triacylglycerides.
Instead of preen gland secretion, for the following experiements I used maize germ oil, because I do not have large quantities of preen gland secretion.

I tried to dissolve the oil in DMSO, ethanol (+hexane), methanol (+hexane), glycerol, PEG400. After adding wate and vortexing for some minutes droplets formed and it did not dissolve.

I also tried Tween80 and arabic gum and vortexed for 1 hour. But there was no difference to when I vortexed pure maize germ oil with water: a suspension formed which started to divide into two phases after some hours. Sonication had the same effect.

What else can I try? Maybe I did something wrong? I am still new to this topic. The liquid should be stable in one phase for at least 18 hours. Maybe I could try lecithine but I had to order it?


Thanks!

[Arkcon]

You can try lecithin, if you can purchase it.  You may also try household spray cooking oil, which contains some lecithin, just to test it will work.  Perhaps some household detergents could also be tried.

I think you may be running against a dead end.  The whole point of bird preen oil is to waterproof their feathers.  Its supposed to resist water.  You could probably find a way to dissolve it, but that's not the formulation that's active.

Here's a thought, maybe you can just mix the oil under constant vigorous stirring.  If you get a decent suspension, the oil will at least be "touching" the bacteria enough so you can see an effect.

[fledarmus]

Yes, usually detergents are used for this purpose. You would need to find a detergent that does not lyse your bacteria, however, which is usually the point of most household detergents.

Arkcon may be headed the right direction with simply contacting the bacteria with the oil. This might work better without the agitation, however - have you tried growing the bacteria in a medium coating a thin layer of the oil? That might be enough to demonstrate antimicrobial activity, especially if it is compared to several other oils.