Efficacy of Gold Nanoparticles against Drug-Resistant Nosocomial Fungal Pathogens and Their Extracellular Enzymes: Resistance Profiling towards Established Antifungal Agents

Abstract

Drug resistance of filamentous fungi to the commonly used antifungal agents is a major concern in medicine. Therefore, an effective approach to treat several opportunistic fungal infections is the need of the hour. Mentha piperita is used in home remedies to treat different disorders. Isolates of fungi were taken from hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and identified using molecular tools. Amphotericin B, Voriconazole, and Micafungin were applied to screen the resistance of these isolates using both disc and broth microdilution techniques. An aqueous extract of Mentha piperita was utilized to synthesize AuNPs and the nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Vis, FTIR, TEM, EDAX, and XRD. The AuNPs were tested for antifungal activity against the nosocomial fungal pathogens and the activity of extracellular enzymes of such pathogens were analyzed after treatment with AuNPs. We conclude that AuNPs synthesized using Mentha piperita do not possess especially effective antifungal properties against multi-drug resistant Aspergillus species. Five out of eighteen isolates were inhibited by AuNPs. When inhibition was observed, significant alterations in the activity profile of extracellular enzymes of the nosocomial fungi were observed.

Specific Focus on Antifungal Peptides against Azole Resistant Aspergillus fumigatus: Current Status, Challenges, and Future Perspectives

“…One class of nanoparticles are solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) and nanostructured lipid carriers that improve lipid permeability and stability and allow the co-delivery of several drugs. However, they have the disadvantage of low drug loading capacity and drug expulsion during storage [ 155 , 164 ].…”

“…Another study with nanometals was realized by Almansob et al [ 164 ]; this study evaluated the use of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) synthesized from an extract of Mentha piperita to treat fungal infections. The results showed that these nanoparticles did not have a particularly effective antifungal effect against multidrug-resistant species of Aspergillus.…”

Facile green synthesis inorganic cuprous oxide nanoparticles and their antibacterial properties

“…The use of physicochemical techniques [23–25] is limited due to the deployment of dangerous chemicals and their harmful impact on human health; biosynthesis has garnered much attention as this strategy delivers rapid economic results with less impact on human health [26–28] and the environment [29–31]. Green synthesis methods [32] are among the ideal methods applied for the production of nanoparticles because they are harmless [33], cheap [34], and simple [35, 36]. One of the significant nanotechnological research focuses on synthesizing M/MO NPs such as silver [37, 38], carbon [39, 40], zinc oxide [41–43], gold [44–46], copper [47–49], nickel [50–52], selenide [53], palladium [54, 55], molybdenum [56, 57], tin oxide [58], titanium [59], and iron [60, 61].…”

Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using Lawsonia inermis and their biomedical application

“…Nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary knowledge of various disciplines [ 3 , 4 ], including physics [ 5 , 6 ], materials [ 7 , 8 , 9 ], engineering [ 10 , 11 , 12 ], mechanical engineering [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ], agriculture [ 17 ], energy [ 18 , 19 , 20 ] and biology [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Recently, nanoparticles have been successfully used for sustained drug release [ 26 ], photo‐catalytic [ 27 , 28 , 29 ], degradation [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], detection [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], treatment of infections [ 40 ], and in the food industry as potent anti‐oxidant [ 41 , 42 ], larvicidal [ 43 ], antifungal [ 44 ] and antibacterial agents [ 45 , 46 ]. Various methods for producing nanoparticles are classified into three general methods: physical, chemical, and biological [ 47 , 48 ].…”