A study on the synthesis of Bi-metallic copper-silver nanoparticle & its anti-bacterial potency against multi-drug resistant diarrhea-causing E.coli ETEC in vitro and in vivo in mice

Abstract

The development of easy methods of preparation metallic nanoparticles (NP) has been very much attracting to the field of material science, from their application potential in different areas, due to their unusual size-dependent optical and electronic properties. This study deals with the development of a simple robust method of synthesis of simple bimetallic copper-silver nanoparticles (Cu-AgNP) by successive reduction of Cu (No3)2 and AgNo3, using hydrazine hydride as the reducing agent and gelatine and poly-vinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as the capping agents (stabilizer). The round shaped particles were of core-shell structure with a core of Cu0 atoms surrounded by a shell of Ag0 atoms. The size and Zeta potential of the NPs were (76.26) nm and (-15.5) mV respectively. The particles were crystalline in nature and 90% of the precursors Cu (No3)2and AgNo3 were converted to Cu-Ag NPs. The NPs were characterized by the techniques like dynamic light scattering (DLS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) etc. The NPs were toxic to multi-drug (cefixime, ceftriaxone, erythromycin, sulfamthoxazole, trimetthoprin, vancomycin, tetracycline, rifaximin etc.) resistant Enterotoxigenic Bacteria (ETEC) that killed most of the ETEC. Therefore, Cu-Ag NPs can be used as a potent antibacterial drug in future. The antibacterial activity of this Cu-Ag NPs on Gram negative ETEC was demonstrated by agar plating method. Determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (5.483μg/ml), minimum bacterial concentration (6.27μg/ml), showed that our Cu-Ag NPs were highly effective at lower concentration than that of any antibiotic.