Abstract
A challenging problem in the aquaculture industry is bacterial disease outbreaks, which result in the global reduction in fish supply and foodborne outbreaks. Biofilms in marine pathogens protect against antimicrobial treatment and host immune defense. Zeolites are minerals of volcanic origin made from crystalline aluminosilicates, which are useful in agriculture and in environmental management. In this study, silver-ion-exchanged zeolite A of four concentrations; 0.25 M (AgZ1), 0.50 M (AgZ2), 1.00 M (AgZ3) and 1.50 M (AgZ4) were investigated for biofilm inhibition and antimicrobial properties against two predominant marine pathogens, V. campbelli and V. parahemolyticus, by employing the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and crystal violet biofilm quantification assays as well as scanning electron microscopy. In the first instance, all zeolite samples AgZ1–AgZ4 showed antimicrobial activity for both pathogens. For V. campbellii, AgZ4 exhibited the highest MIC at 125.00 µg/mL, while for V. parahaemolyticus, the highest MIC was observed for AgZ3 at 62.50 µg/mL. At sublethal concentration, biofilm inhibition of V. campbelli and V. parahemolyticus by AgZ4 was observed at 60.2 and 77.3% inhibition, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy exhibited profound structural alteration of the biofilm matrix by AgZ4. This is the first known study that highlights the potential application of ion-exchanged zeolite A against marine pathogens and their biofilms.
Highlights
Aquaculture farming has been the fastest growing food producing sector in the last few decades and an important industry in many developing countries
This is in part due to extensive use of antibiotics in fish farms leading to antimicrobial resistance in fish pathogens [3,4,5]
This study aimed to investigate antimicrobial and antibiofilm applications of silver-ionexchanged zeolite A against marine bacterial pathogens V. parahaemolyticus and
Summary
Aquaculture farming has been the fastest growing food producing sector in the last few decades and an important industry in many developing countries. The industry currently faces a threatening challenge due to the bacterial disease outbreaks resulting in high mortality rates in the aquaculture population [1,2]. This is in part due to extensive use of antibiotics in fish farms leading to antimicrobial resistance in fish pathogens [3,4,5]. Vibriosis is an important bacterial disease in wild and farmed marine fishes, which results in severe economic loss of more than USD 1 billion [6]. Biofilms are self-assembled communities of bacteria embedded in a self-developed extracellular matrix (ECM) and are adherent to abiotic or abiotic surfaces.
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