Study of Antibacterial Activity of Silver Nanoparticles Prepared Using Terminalia arjuna and its Synergistic Association with Tetracycline

Abstract

The rising menace of antimicrobial resistance has invigorated the hunt for new lead molecules from natural products and furthered their application in synthesizing nanoparticles from them. In this study, the methanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna (TAE) was evaluated for its antibacterial potential, and its combined activity with tetracycline was screened. The antibacterial potency of TAE was confirmed by evaluating the minimum inhibitory concentration values (MIC). The MIC value recorded for TAE was 3.5 mg/mL, and for tetracycline, it was noted as 8.5 μg/mL by the agar dilution technique. The checkerboard method validated the synergistic association between TAE and Tetracycline after determining the Fractional inhibitory concentration index. Further, phytochemical screening of TAE was performed, and TAE was used to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The characterization of the AgNPs formed was done using the UV-vis spectrophotometric technique. The topology of TAE-AgNPs formed was studied using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique at IIT-Bombay, and it was observed that the particles formed were spherical, with a size range of 50 to 60 nm. The selected four test strains were inhibited by TAE-AgNPs, exhibiting inhibition zones with a range of 14.7 to 28.2 mm. Thus, it can be suggested that AgNPs formed using TAE had potent antibacterial activity.