To combat the issue of pathogenic infections, the current work successfully synthesized a nanocomposite, which is based on the aqueous extract of Alkanna tinctoria (ATE) and silver-zinc oxide nanoparticles (ATE@Ag-ZnO NPs), using a green technique. Analytical methods were used to characterize the synthesized nanocomposite to verify its size, shape, distribution, surface charge, and crystallinity. The resulting nanocomposite created permanent colloidal nano-solutions, demonstrated excellent dispersion, and appeared at the nanoscale. The antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibiofilm characteristics of the ATE@Ag-ZnO nanocomposite were assessed. For every studied microbial strain, the ATE@Ag-ZnO nanocomposite's minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined. The encouraging findings showed that the MIC range of ATE@Ag-ZnO against all strains was 250-31.25 µg/mL. It demonstrated promise against S. epidermidis and A. calcoaceticus, with a MIC of 31.25 µg/mL. Furthermore, with inhibition zones of 22.0, 20.0, and 15.0 mm, respectively, the ATE@Ag-ZnO nanocomposite demonstrated antibacterial efficacy against gram-positive bacteria A. calcoaceticus, S. epidermidis, and C. tropicalis at 250 µg/mL. The highest percentage of inhibition (91.44%) was seen in S. aureus treated with 250 µg/mL ATE@Ag-ZnO nanocomposite, followed by A. calcoaceticus (68.83%) and C. albicans (64.81%). In conclusion, we successfully created the green synthesized ATE@Ag-ZnO nanocomposite, which demonstrated promising antibacterial, antifungal, and antibiofilm agents against some pathogenic microbes.
Keywords: Alkanna tinctoria; Antibiofilm activity; Antimicrobial potential; Membrane leakage assay; Nanoparticles.
© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.