Biopolymer gelatin-coated zinc oxide nanoparticles showed high antibacterial, antibiofilm and anti-angiogenic activity

Publication date: Available online 10 November 2017
Source:Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology
Author(s): Mani Divya, Baskaralingam Vaseeharan, Muthukumar Abinanya, Sekar Vijayakumar, Marimuthu Govindarajan, Naiyf S. Alharbi, Shine Kadaikunnan, Jamal M. Khaled, Giovanni Benelli
The use of natural polymers in drug design plays an important role in biomedical applications. Combinations of nanoparticles (NPs) and biopolymers have been shown to be useful for many purposes. This study focused on gelatin-coated zinc oxide NPs synthesized by co-precipitation. The particles were characterized by UV–Vis, showing a main peak at 375nm. The stability and crystalline nature of the particle was evaluated by Zeta potential and X-ray diffraction analyses. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed the possible functional groups of Ge-ZnO NPs with strong bands at 3851, 3447, and 2923cm⁻¹. Moreover, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed spherically shaped Ge-ZnO NPs that were 20nm in size. Energy dispersive analysis X-ray (EDX) analysis showed that the zinc elemental content of Ge-ZnO NPs was 59.10%. The results for antibacterial activity revealed higher inhibition of Ge-ZnO NPs against Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 100μg/mL than that against Gram-positive Enterococcus faecalis. Greater inhibition of biofilm formation was observed for Gram-negative bacteria compared to that for Gram-positive bacteria. In addition, Ge-ZnO NPs effectively inhibit the biofilm growth of the fungus Candida albicans at 50μg/mL. Ge-ZnO NPs reduced the viability of hepatocarcinoma cancer cell lines at a concentration of 100μg/mL. Moreover, in chick embryos, notable anti-angiogenesis effects were observed for Ge-ZnO NPs and zinc acetate at 50μg/mL compared to that observed for gelatin. Overall, based on the results, Ge-ZnO NPs may be used as a nutraceutical agent for the control of biofilm forming microbial pathogens.

Graphical abstract