ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF NANOPARTICLES AGAINST PATHOGENS OF OTITIS EXTERNA

*Pooja P. Mankar and Dr. Archana S. Pethe

ABSTRACT

There is increase in use of nanoparticles in medicine like in ointments, coating medical devices, in diagnostics due to its efficacy. The study evaluated the antimicrobial activity of three nanoparticles Silver, Copper and Zinc against the bacteria and fungi of the common external infection of the ear. All the three nanoparticles having size 30-50nm were ordered from nanoresearch lab, Jamshedpur. The agar well diffusion technique was used to study their antimicrobial activity. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) evince good antimicrobial activity against all the bacteria and fungi with zone of inhibition ranging from 10 to 21 mm except Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas. Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) displayed the greater antibacterial and antifungal activity than AgNPs and Zinc nanoparticles (ZnNPs). ZnNPs showed good antibacterial activity. As we talk about the antifungal activity of ZnNPs, it only inhibited the activity of Penicillium polonicum and Candida Africana with zone of inhibition 12mm and 14mm respectively.

Keywords: Silver nanoparticles, Copper nanoparticles, Zinc nanoparticles, external ear infection