Trichoderma based synthesis of anti-pathogenic silver nanoparticles and their characterization, antioxidant and cytotoxicity properties

Abstract

Antibacterial silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are synthesized from various biological resources, but studies on Trichoderma-based synthesis are limited. Hence, the current work synthesized antibacterial silver nanoparticles using Trichoderma atroviride and also tested for their biomedical properties. AgNPs synthesis was confirmed by the occurrence of plasmon resonance at 390-400 nm in the UV-vis spectrum. FTIR spectrum displayed the bands at 1115.4 and 3450 cm^-1 indicating the vibrations of the metallic oxides. Transmission electron microscopic and EDX analysis confirmed a high percentage signal of anisotropic structural AgNPs with the size of 15-25 nm. The AgNPs exhibited high antibacterial activity and DPPH scavenging activity in a dosedependent manner. The cytotoxicity assay \\\\ indicated that the AgNPs triggered the cancer cell death at the inhibitory concentration of IC₅₀ 16.5 μg/ml. Current work reported for the first time Trichoderma atroviride based synthesis of anisotropic structural AgNPs with the relatively small size of 15-25 nm with remarkable anti-bacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxicity activities, and this deserves future investigations for biomedical applications.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Antipathogenic; Cytotoxicity; Silver nanoparticle; Trichoderma atroviride.