The prospective application of probiotics is an adjuvant for the advancement of novel antimicrobial and wound-healing agents. Currently, probiotic bacteria are utilized for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles in the development of innovative therapeutics. The present study aimed at using nanoparticle-conjugated probiotic bacteria for enhanced antibacterial and wound-healing activity. In the present investigation, the probiotic bacteria were isolated from a dairy source (milk from domestic herbivores). They screened for antibacterial activity against infection-causing Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) pathogens. Further, the probiotic strain with higher bactericidal activity was used to synthesize silver, selenium, and copper nanoparticles. The isolated strain was found to be Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and it only has the ability to synthesize silver nanoparticles. This was verified using Ultra violet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, where the test solution turned brown and the greatest UV-Vis absorptions peaked at 425 nm. Optimization studies on the synthesis of AgNPs (silver nanoparticles) are presented and the results show that stable synthesis was obtained by using a concentration of 1mM silver nitrate (AgNO3) at a temperature of 37 °C with pH 8. The FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) study confirmed the involvement of functional groups from the cell biomass that were involved in the reduction process. Additionally, biosynthesized AgNPs showed increased antioxidant and antibacterial activities. The nano silver had a size distribution of 14 nm and was recorded with HR-TEM (high-resolution transmission electron microscopy) examination. The EDX (energy dispersive X-ray) analysis revealed 57% of silver groups found in the nanoparticle production. The biosynthesized AgNPs show significant wound-healing capabilities with 96% of wound closure (fibroblast cells) being observed through an in vitro scratch-wound assay. The cytotoxic experiments demonstrated that the biosynthesized AgNPs are not extremely hazardous to the fibroblast cells. The present study provides a new platform for the green synthesis of AgNPs using probiotic bacteria, showing significant antibacterial and wound-healing potentials against infectious pathogens.
Keywords: antimicrobial activity; antioxidant; probiotic bacteria; silver nanoparticles; wound-healing activity.