Saponins are glycosides, which destabilize the membrane by altering the membrane permeability. Thus, the present study was aimed to fabricate the silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using fenugreek derived saponin (SN) against multi-drug resistant bacteria. This study has optimized the concentration of SN (240 mg/mL) for the synthesis of an effective AgNPs against the test organism Escherichia coli. The SN reduced AgNPs produced a reddish-brown colour and displayed UV absorption at 416 nm. The bio-reducing efficiency of SN (62.76%) was calculated from the HPLC quantitation of free SN in the colloidal solution of AgNPs. The FESEM-EDAX analysis of SN-AgNPs revealed a spherical shape and showed signals for elemental silver along with carbon and oxygen. The spherical morphology of SN-AgNPs was also confirmed from its TEM and AFM micrographs and their sizes were found in between 2-15 nm. The hydrodynamic size, zeta potential and crystalline nature of SN-AgNPs were studied by DLS and XRD analyses and were found to be 9-30 nm, -18 mV and fcc crystallinity respectively. The FT-IR analysis of SN-AgNPs revealed that the functional groups such as C-O, C=C, C=O and O-H of SN are involved in the reduction and stability of AgNPs. The SN-AgNPs have depicted a notable in vitro structural stability and showed a remarkable antibacterial activity against the bacterial species, related to severe burn wound infections. In conclusion, the findings of our study clearly demonstrate that the SN-AgNPs conjugate would be a novel effective antibacterial agent for the prevention/eradication of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections in severe burn wounds.

This study collected wound swab samples from 50 diabetic patients, especially in Wagner’s grade 2 (28) and grade 3 (22) foot ulcers. The samples were processed and subjected to bacterial isolation and characterization. The obtained diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) bacterial isolates were also subjected to antibiotic susceptibility assay. All the collected samples were culture positive and produced a total of 85 isolates. Monomicrobial and polymicrobial infections were observed from the collected grade 2 and 3 samples, respectively. Gram’s staining and morphological analyses of the obtained bacterial colony demonstrated the presence of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacilli, Gram-positive cocci, and Gram-negative cocco-bacilli in the wounds of diabetic patients. The bacterial profiling of 85 isolates revealed the presence of Gram-negative bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Proteus spp, Acinetobacter spp, Enterobacter spp, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter spp, K oxytoca, and Stenotrophomonas spp Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Corynebacterium spp, and Streptococcus dysgalactiae were also identified. The predominant microbial flora found in the collected samples were Staphylococcus aureus (38%) and P aeruginosa (23.2%), followed by B subtilis (21%) and Escherichia coli (18%) and other bacteria. Furthermore, the obtained antibiotic susceptibility assay data of DFU isolates have also confirmed the distribution of multiantibiotic-resistant bacteria in the wound site of diabetic patients. The findings of the present study suggest that there is a need for the discovery of novel drug(s) to alleviate antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in DFU patients.

The integration of nanotechnology with herbal medicines overcomes the limitations of herbal therapy and offers desirable bioactivity. Thus, this study was aimed at synthesizing Apium graveolens -gold nanoparticles (AG-AuNPs) and exploring their impact on the glucose utilization pattern of the isolated rat hemidiaphragm. The AG-AuNPs appeared in cherry red color and showed a plasmonic peak at 534nm. The bio-reduced AG-AuNPs appeared as spherical shapes with varying sizes of about 4–15 nm. It also depicted the zeta potential of -19.5 mV, face-centered cubic crystalline nature, stretching vibrations for different functionalities, and in vitro stability during various characterization studies. The AG-AuNPs showed non-cytotoxicity and promoted cellular glucose uptake on their exposure to the cell line and the diaphragm, respectively. Moreover, the identified flavonoids and polyphenols of AG depicted in silico interactions with the insulin signaling molecule. The observed results suggest that the interacting ability of AG-AuNPs with the insulin signaling molecule can promote the glucose uptake efficiency of the diaphragm.