Chitosan coated Ag/ZnO nanocomposite and their antibiofilm, antifungal and cytotoxic effects on murine macrophages.

In the present study, chitosan coated Ag/ZnO (CS/Ag/ZnO) nanocomposite was synthesized and characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The CS/Ag/ZnO nanocomposite exhibited antibacterial activity against Gram positive (B. licheniformis and B. cereus) bacteria at 8 μg mL-1 compared to Gram negative (V. parahaemolyticus. and P. vulgaris) bacteria. CS/Ag/ZnO nanocomposite effectively inhibited the biofilm growth of Gram positive bacteria compared to Gram negative bacteria at 30 μg mL-1. The hydrophobicity index and EPS (extracellular polysaccharide) production of both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria was decreased after treatment with 30 μg mL-1 of CS/Ag/ZnO nanocomposite. CS/Ag/ZnO nanocomposite showed effective control of fungal C. albicans biofilm (92%) at 50 μg mL-1. The inhibition of bacterial and fungal biofilms was clearly visualized under light and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). CS/Ag/ZnO nanocomposite was observed to be non toxic to RAW264.7 murine macrophages and no changes in the morphology of macrophages was observed under phase contrast microscopy. The study concludes that CS/Ag/ZnO nanocomposite is the promising candidate to be used as biomaterial against bacterial and fungal infections without any toxicity risk.