Gliadin-mediated green preparation of Hybrid Zinc Oxide Nanospheres With Antibacterial Activity and Low Toxicity

Abstract

The development of inorganic antibacterial agents that impart antibacterial properties to biomaterials has attracted widely attention. The paper introduced a kind of hybrid nanosphere antibacterial agent composed of wheat gliadin (WG) and zinc oxide (ZnO), with antibacterial effecacy and low toxicity. The ZnO/WG hybrid nanospheres were environment-friendly integrated by molecular self-assembly co-precipitating and freeze-drying transformating, and were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), bacteriostasis test and safety evaluation. It was found that the prepared hybrid nanospheres were composed of two components, ZnO and wheat gliadin, with a diameter scope of 100~200 nm. The content of ZnO in the hybrid nanospheres can reach 46.9~70.2% (w/w); The anti-bacteria tests proved that the prepared ZnO/WG nanospheres (containing 70% ZnO) have an significant inhibitory effect on E. coli (E.C.) and Staphylococcus aureus(S.A.) while the suspension concentration of the nanospheres was above 5 mg/mL. Furthermore, the ZnO/WG nanospheres are relatively safe and highly effective in cells and mice. Therefore, the prepared novel ZnO/WG hybrid nanospheres were supposed to apply in the preparation of anti-infective wound dressings, tissue engineering skin scaffold materials, food and cosmetics preservatives, and so on.