Antibacterial activity of green synthesized silver nanoparticles using Citrullus lanatus fruit rind extract

Abstract

The increased resistance of microbes to current antibiotics calls for development of new effective antimicrobial agents. Metal nanoparticles such as silver nanoparticles have continued to attract increased research interest in the recent past because of their wide range of applications such as in the areas of chemical sensing, nanomedicine and electronics. In this work, spherical AgNPs (17.96 ± 0.16 nm in diameter) synthesized via a green method using Citrullus lanatus (water melon) fruit rind extract were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against clinical isolates of Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Salmonella typhi (S.typhi) bacteria using the discdiffusion method. The Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) value of the nanoparticles was found to be 45.00 ± 0.01 g/ml for S.typhi and 38.50 ± 0.00 g/ml for E.coli while the Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) value was found to be 60.00 ± 0.05 g/ml for S.typhi and 50.00 ± 0.00 g/ml for E.coli. This study demonstrated that these two bacterial strains were susceptible to the green synthesized AgNPs.