Study of antimicrobial activity and atomic force microscopy imaging of the action mechanism of cashew tree gum.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of two grades of cashew tree gum (crude and purified) against eight microorganisms and to analyze the mechanism of cashew tree gum antimicrobial action via atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. The results indicated strong antimicrobial properties of pure cashew tree gum against all tested microorganisms, except for Candida albicans and Lactobacillus acidophilus. On the other hand crude cashew gum showed antimicrobial activity only against Gram-positive bacteria (MRSA, MSSA, Listeria innocua and Enterococcus faecium).