Emulsification technology of Aomori Hiba oil and its' antibacterial effect against staphylococci

Okabe, Toshihiro*; Ono, Hiroyuki*; Hatayama, Ichiro*; Waguri, Atsushi*; Sawada, Yuzuru*; Tsugawa, Hidehito*; Ichida, Tadao*; Nakane, Akio*; Sano, Teruo*; Tanaka, Kazuaki*; Hiroki, Akihiro; Iwanaga, Shigeru; Izumiya, Yukihiko*; Fujisawa, Katsuya*; Narita, Takeshi*; Kodate, Seiichi*

The oil extracted from Aomori Hiba has excellent antibacterial and insecticidal effects. To heighten the added value of the Aomori Hiba oil, the water-soluble nano-hiba oil with about 10 nm of particle size was developed by applying emulsification technology to the oil. The emulsified Aomori Hiba oils showed no signs of phase separation and remained intact even six months after its preparation. Since the nano-hiba oil can be sprayed quickly, antibacterial examinations were carried out to explore potential applications in preventions of hospital infection and damages caused by blight and insect in agricultural environments. Furthermore, a novel antibacterial material composed of nano-hiba oil and water-absorption gel was investigated. Hydroxypropyl cellulose hydrogels as support materials for the nano-hiba oil were prepared by irradiating their paste-like solutions. Subsequently, absorbability in nano-hiba oil as well as the antibacterial effects were evaluated. The hydrogels showed excellent antibacterial effect up to three weeks. Therefore, it was suggested that the hydrogels containing nano-hiba oil are suitable as antibacterial materials.