Antibacterial and cytotoxic activity of polymer-metal hybrid nanoparticle

Abstract

Recently, there is a growing demand for the polymer-nanoparticle hybrid system due to their long-term stability against aggregation and enhanced functionality for different applications in both material science and biology. In the current study, we have prepared a novel stimuli-responsive biocompatible polymer-silver nanoparticle hybrid using polymeric microgel particles as a micro-reactor in an in-situ treatment, and these hybrid particles are characterized using UV-Vis, dynamic light scattering, and transmission electron microscope with respect to their size distribution and optical properties. Next, these hybrid particles were tested for antibacterial and cytotoxic activities against Salmonella typhimurium bacteria and HeLa cancer cells, respectively using bulk-diffusion, agar diffusion assay, and MTT assay. Both bulk and agar diffusion assays confirm the antibacterial properties of the hybrid microgel-silver nanoparticles against Salmonella typhimurium. Agar diffusion assay shows a systematic trend in the increase of the width of inhibition zone as a function of increasing particle concentration and thus relating the linear relationship between hybrid nanoparticle concentration and concentration of inhibited bacteria. Similarly, linear behavior is also observed with MTT assay, where cell viability decreases linearly with an increase in hybrid particle concentration. Thus, we believe that our polymer-nanoparticle hybrid system may have a wide range of industrial applications as an antibacterial agent and in cancer therapy applications.