Green silver nanoparticles of Phyllanthus amarus: as an antibacterial agent against multi drug resistant clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in burn and immune-compromised patients. In recent studies, researchers have drawn their attention towards ecofriendly synthesis of nanoparticles and their activity against multidrug resistant microbes. In this study, silver nanoparticles were synthesized from aqueous extract of Phyllanthus amarus. The synthesized nanoparticles were explored as a potent source of nanomedicine against MDR burn isolates of P. aeruginosa. RESULTS: Silver nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using P. amarus extract and the nature of synthesized nanoparticles was analyzed by UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, X- ray diffraction and fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy. The average size of synthesized nanoparticles was 15.7, 24 ± 8 and 29.78 nm by XRD, TEM and DLS respectively. The antibacterial activity of AgNPs was investigated against fifteen MDR strains of P. aeruginosa tested at different concentration. The zone of inhibition was measured in the range of 10 ± 0.53 to 21 ± 0.11mm with silver nanoparticles concentration of 12.5 to 100 μg/ml. The zone of inhibition increased with increase in the concentration of silver nanoparticles. The MIC values of synthesized silver nanoparticles were found in the range of 6.25 to12.5 μg/ml. The MIC values are comparable to the standard antibiotics. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that silver nanoparticles from P. amarus extract exhibited excellent antibacterial potential against multidrug resistant strains of P. aeruginosa from burn patients and gives insight of their potential applicability as an alternative antibacterial in the health care system to reduce the burden of multidrug resistance. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12951-014-0040-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.