Thesis (M.Sc. in Pharm.)--Chulalongkorn University, 2000

Susceptibility tests of freeze-dried juice of red and yellow cashew apples at 2, 4, 8, and 16 mg/disk, respectively, against twenty-nine strains of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and one standard strain S. aureus ATCC 25923 were investigated by disk diffusion method. At low amount of freeze-dried cashew apple juice (FCAJ) per disk, the yellow type yielded larger inhibition zone diameters than the red type did at the same concentration. The agar dilution method was applied for testing activities of both red and yellow type FCAJ against 29 strains of Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC90) of red type FCAJ was equal to or less than 5 mg/ml and that of yellow type FCAJ was less than 2.5 mg/ml. Oil in water (o/w) and water in oil (w/o) cream bases containing red and yellow type FCAJ at concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2%w/w, respectively, were formulated. The susceptibility testing against thirty strains of S. aureus (fifteen strains of methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and fifteen strains of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA)), and twenty-nine strains of P. acnes were studied using cup diffusion method. Their cream bases and 5% benzoyl peroxide were used as controls. All w/o creams did not inhibit the growth of S. aureus and P. acnes. The inhibition zone diameters obtained from o/w creams containing both types of FCAJ at all concentraions, the o/w cream base and 5% benzoyl peroxide against MSSA were not significantly different. On the other hand, almost all concentrations of o/w creams containing both types of FCAJ yielded larger zone diameters against MRSA than the cream base and 5% benzoyl peroxide did. Five percents benzoyl peroxide yielded zone diameters against P. acnes that were more than twice as large as the cream base and creams containing both types of FCAJ at all concentrations