Synergistic Anticandidal Activities of Greenly Synthesized ZnO Nanomaterials with Commercial Antifungal Agents against Candidal Infections

Abstract

The high occurrence of mycological resistance to conventional antifungal agents results in significant illness and death rates among immunodeficient patients. In addition, the underprivileged therapeutic results of conventional antifungal agents, besides the potential toxicity resulting from long term therapy necessitate the fabrication of efficient antimicrobial combinations. Hence, the objective of the present investigation is to synthesize, characterize and investigate the anticandidal action of green zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) formulated using Camellia sinensis leaf extract against three candidal pathogens. The eco-friendly synthesized ZnO-NPs were characterized utilizing different physicochemical methods and their anticandidal potency was tested utilizing a disk diffusion assay. In this setting, the size of the biofabricated ZnO-NPs was detected using transmission electron microscope (TEM) micrographs, recording an average particle size of 19.380 ± 2.14 nm. In addition, zeta potential analysis revealed that the ZnO-NPs surface charge was −4.72 mV. The biogenic ZnO-NPs reveal the highest anticandidal activity against the C. tropicalis strain, demonstrating relative suppressive zones measured at 35.16 ± 0.13 and 37.87 ± 0.24 mm in diameter for ZnO-NPs concentrations of 50 and 100 μg/disk, respectively. Excitingly, Candida glabrata showed a high susceptibility to the biofabricated ZnO nanomaterials at both ZnO-NPs’ concentrations (50 and 100 μg/disk) compared to the control. Moreover, the biosynthesized ZnO-NPs revealed potential synergistic effectiveness with nystatin and terbinafine antifungal agents against the concerned strains. The maximum synergistic efficiency was noticed against the C. glabrata strain, demonstrating relative synergistic percentages of 23.02 and 45.9%, respectively. The biogenic ZnO-NPs revealed no hemolytic activity against human erythrocytes revealing their biosafety and hemocompatibility. Finally, the high anticandidal effectiveness of biogenic ZnO-NPs against the concerned candidal pathogens, as well as potential synergistic patterns with conventional antifungal agents such as nystatin and terbinafine, emphasize the prospective application of these combinations for the fabrication of biocompatible and highly efficient antifungal agents.

Synergistic Anticandidal Effectiveness of Greenly Synthesized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles with Antifungal Agents against Nosocomial Candidal Pathogens

“…Conversely, ZnO-NPs have the ability to oxidize crucial cellular components of candidal cells owing to the action of ROS, including DNA and proteins. This process ultimately leads to the initiation of cell death in the fungus [ 84 ]. In addition, synergistic anticandidal effectiveness of ZnO-NPs with nystatin antifungal agent was observed against C. tropicalis and C. glabrata stains, with relative IFA values of 1.06 and 2.39, respectively.…”

“…The cytotoxicity results were consistent with those of a prior investigation, which reported an IC 50 value of 238 µg/mL for Vero cells after a 72 h incubation period with ZnO-NPs synthesized using Pichia kudriavzevii extract as a green method [ 40 ]. A previous study reported a relatively low IC 50 value for the phytosynthesized ZnO-NPs against WI-38 cells, with an average IC 50 of 642.21 μg/mL [ 84 ]. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it is recommended that zinc oxide nanoparticles be regarded as safe, specifically falling under the category of generally recognized as safe (GRAS) [ 91 , 92 ].…”

Sustainable fabrication of dimorphic plant derived ZnO nanoparticles and exploration of their biomedical and environmental potentialities

“…Among the phyto-synthesized metal oxide nanoparticles, zinc oxide; ZnO has great consideration for its peculiar chemical and thermal stability 9 , biocompatibility 10 , selectivity, and cytotoxic activity against cancerous cells 11 . Accordingly, they have been recently used in numerous biomedical and pharmacological applications, such as antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer, antifungal, and antidiabetic applications 12 – 15 . Moreover, studies have reported ZnO NPs as an alternative emergent tool successfully utilized for water disinfection against numerous microbial strains such as Aspergillus flavus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, and Staphylococcus aureus 16 , 17 .…”

Synergistic Antibacterial Proficiency of Green Bioformulated Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles with Potential Fosfomycin Synergism against Nosocomial Bacterial Pathogens

“…As a result, Zn(II) ions in corresponding salt solutions can be reduced, capped, and oxidized to form stable and well-dispersed ZnO NPs using plant extracts [ 22 ]. Several studies have used plant extracts to biosynthesize green zinc oxide nanomaterials with photocatalytic and antibacterial properties [ 23 ]. For instance, flower-like ZnO structures with hexagonal wurtzite forms were produced using Arabic Gum (AGZnO) or Karaya Gum (KGZnO) with crystallite sizes of 20 and 19 nm, respectively.…”