Abstract
Nowadays, the use of nanoparticles (NPs) has become useful in the different application fields. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial potential of metal-ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) against several bacterial and fungal strains including; Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Bacillus cereus (ATCC 13753), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 8095), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC10662), Candida albicans (ATCC10231) and Aspergillus niger (AUMC3663). Results obtained by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) showed that the NPs size was in the range of 35.1- 43.7 nm. Images of the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrated the rod shape nature of the ZnO NPs, and the semi-spherical shapes of the Zn9.7TM0.3O NPs. The effect of different concentrations of ZnO NPs on the in vitro growth of the bacterial and fungal strains was evaluated using the agar well diffusion assay. Current results showed that Cd-ZnO NP recorded the highest antimicrobial potency; expressing inhibition zones diameter range of 12- 45 mm, while ZnO NPs demonstrated the least activity exhibiting inhibition zones diameter that ranged from 0- 36 mm. Among all the examined ZnO-NPs, treatment of E. coli and Staph. aureus cells with Cd-ZnO proved to be the most effective in causing membrane leakage of reducing sugars, protein and DNA recording; 0.41 µg/ ml and 0.38 µg/ ml; 14.91 µg/ ml and 15.98 µg/ ml; 0.81 µg/ ml and 0.96 µg/ ml, respectively. This study emphasized that ZnO NPs could be used as alternative antimicrobial agents to control the bacterial and fungal pathogens. Manipulation of ZnO NPs is ecofriendly; as it reduces the use of the synthetic pesticides and chemical therapeutic agents, which pollute the environment. In the future, in vivo application of these NPs necessitates the proof that they have no phytotoxicity andor cytotoxicity.
Highlights
Metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) are widely applied in the different fields of research and development (Soosen et al, 2009; KolodziejczakRadzimska et al, 2014)
The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the Zn9.7TM0.3O nanostructure compared to the pure ZnO nanostructure is demonstrated in Fig. (1)
Results presented in Table (2) indicated that all the metal ZnO NPs had antimicrobial potential against the tested bacterial and fungal strains manifested through the formation of growth inhibition zones, compared to the control treated with Di-methyl sulfoxide solvent (DIMSO) only
Summary
Metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) are widely applied in the different fields of research and development (Soosen et al, 2009; KolodziejczakRadzimska et al, 2014). Their properties are determined by the size; shape, composition and crystallinity. The ZnO NPs as antimicrobial agents have excellent stability and\or long shelf life as revealed by KolodziejczakRadzimska et al, (2014). Metal oxide NPs has distinguished antimicrobial activities, which have opened new frontiers to the biological sciences (Allahverdiyev et al, 2011) They have strong toxicity towards a wide range of micro-organisms including bacteria (Huang et al, 2008) and fungi (He et al, 2011). The antibacterial potency of NPs against the pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli and Staph. aureus are well known (Brayner et al, 2006)
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