Enhancement of Physico-chemical and Biological Activities of Antibiotic Cephradine by Gamma Irradiation.

Radiation based sterilization is a common tool for microbial inactivation in different products on a commercial scale. The objective of the current study was to determine the effect of gamma radiation on cephradine antibiotic in the solid-state to enhance its biological response. Cephradine drug in powder form was treated with different doses (25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 kGy) of the cobalt-60 source in a Gamma cell-220 at a current rate of 8.5 gray/h. The effect of radiation doses on antibiotic was assessed with the help of different analytical techniques such as FT-IR, UV, XRD, SEM and HPLC. The UV spectra of radiated cephradine show some changes in the absorption peak by increasing the intensity of radiations while only slight changes were observed in the other peaks. The crystallinity of antibiotics was tested by the XRD and SEM, it shows a little morphological change. The FT-IR data disclosed significant changes in the absorption bands. The HPLC analysis showed reports an insignificant change which revealed that the radiolytic products are not formed. The radiated cephradine exposes a remarkable antibacterial activity against bacteria; indicating the enhancement of a biological response. In summary, a slight change was observed in cephradine drug with the radiation but the drug was chemically stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]