Patent Application
20200268807
The disclosure of the present patent application relates to nanotechnology, and particularly to a method of synthesizing antimicrobial silver nanoparticles using pigeon dung.
In materials science, nanomaterials have demonstrated unique size and morphology based characteristics. Nanotechnology is an emerging field demonstrating significant potential for the development of new medicines. The most common methods of producing nanoparticles are chemical or mechanical, including ball milling, thermal quenching, precipitation techniques, and vapor deposition. However, these methods are often costly, and may result in toxic byproducts.
Biological approaches for synthesizing nanoparticles can avoid many of the disadvantages associated with the chemical or mechanical synthesis methods.
Thus, a method of synthesizing antimicrobial silver nanoparticles using pigeon dung solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The method of synthesizing antimicrobial silver nanoparticles using pigeon dung includes collecting pigeon dung and suspending the pigeon dung in water to produce a pigeon dung aqueous extract, filtering the pigeon dung aqueous extract, adding a solution including a silver source to the pigeon dung aqueous extract to produce a mixture, and resting the mixture to allow pigeon dung silver nanoparticles to form (generally indicated by a color change to dark brown).
An embodiment of the present subject matter is directed to a composition including pigeon dung nanoparticles and pigeon dung aqueous extract.
An embodiment of the present subject matter is directed to a pharmaceutical composition comprising the pigeon dung nanoparticles and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
An embodiment of the present subject matter is directed to a method of making a pharmaceutical composition including mixing the pigeon dung nanoparticles with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
These and other features of the present disclosure will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
A method of synthesizing antimicrobial silver nanoparticles using pigeon dung includes collecting pigeon dung and suspending the pigeon dung in water to produce a pigeon dung aqueous extract, filtering the pigeon dung aqueous extract, adding a solution including a silver source to the pigeon dung aqueous extract to produce a mixture, and resting the mixture to allow pigeon dung silver nanoparticles to form (generally indicated by a color change to dark brown).
As used herein, the term “about,” when used to modify a numerical value, means within ten percent of that numerical value.
In an embodiment, about 17 g of pigeon dung may be suspended in about 90 ml of distilled water to produce the pigeon dung aqueous extract.
In an embodiment, the silver source is AgNO3. In an embodiment, about 0.012 g AgNO3 is added to about 50 ml distilled water and stirred for a period of time to provide the solution including a silver source.
In an embodiment, the pigeon dung may be collected from pigeons found in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In an embodiment, the filtering may include first filtering through gauze, then filtering the resulting filtrate through filter paper, such as Whatmann No. 1 filter paper.
An embodiment of the present subject matter is directed to a composition including pigeon dung nanoparticles and pigeon dung aqueous extract.
An embodiment of the present subject matter is directed to a pharmaceutical composition comprising the pigeon dung nanoparticles and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
An embodiment of the present subject matter is directed to a method of making a pharmaceutical composition including mixing the pigeon dung nanoparticles with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. For example, the method of making a pharmaceutical composition can include mixing the pigeon dung nanoparticles under sterile conditions with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier with preservatives, buffers, and/or propellants to create the pharmaceutical composition.
An embodiment of the present subject matter is directed to a pharmaceutical composition including the pigeon dung nanoparticles. To prepare the pharmaceutical composition, the pigeon dung nanoparticles, as the active ingredient, are intimately admixed with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier according to conventional pharmaceutical compounding techniques. Carriers are inert pharmaceutical excipients, including, but not limited to, binders, suspending agents, lubricants, flavorings, sweeteners, preservatives, dyes, and coatings. In preparing compositions in oral dosage form, any of the pharmaceutical carriers known in the art may be employed. For example, for liquid oral preparations, suitable carriers and additives include water, glycols, oils, alcohols, flavoring agents, preservatives, coloring agents, and the like. Further, for solid oral preparations, suitable carriers and additives include starches, sugars, diluents, granulating agents, lubricants, binders, disintegrating agents, and the like.
The present compositions can be in unit dosage forms such as tablets, pills, capsules, powders, granules, ointments, sterile parenteral solutions or suspensions, metered aerosol or liquid sprays, drops, ampules, auto-injector devices or suppositories, for oral parenteral, intranasal, sublingual or rectal administration, or for administration by inhalation or insufflation. The active compound can be mixed under sterile conditions with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and, if required, any needed preservatives, buffers, or propellants. The composition can be presented in a form suitable for daily, weekly, or monthly administration. The pharmaceutical compositions herein will contain, per dosage unit, e.g., tablet, capsule, powder, injection, teaspoonful, suppository and the like, an amount of the active ingredient necessary to deliver an effective dose.
The following examples illustrate the present teachings.
17 g of pigeon dung were collected from a pigeon shed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and suspended in 90 ml distilled water to produce a pigeon dung aqueous extract. The pigeon dung aqueous extract was then filtered through gauze and the filtrate was further filtered through Whatmann No. 1 filter paper, producing a filtered pigeon dung aqueous extract. The filtered pigeon dung aqueous extract was stored at 4° C. until use. A solution including a silver source was prepared by mixing about 0.012 g AgNO3 with 50 ml distilled water and stirring for 15 minutes at 50° C. About 5 ml of the filtered pigeon dung aqueous extract was added to the silver source, producing a mixture. After about 30 minutes the mixture had changed color to dark brown, indicating the formation of silver nanoparticles.
Pigeon dung silver nanoparticles were synthesized according to the method of Example 1 and the final mixture was observed for a further 30 minutes. Ultraviolet-Vis (UV-Vis) spectroscopy analysis was performed on a Perkin Elmer UV-Vis spectrometer. The formation of pigeon dung silver nanoparticles was also monitored via color change. After about an hour, the color of the mixture containing the pigeon dung silver nanoparticles changed to a reddish hue, attributed to the excitation of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in silver nanoparticles. As shown in
Average sizes of the resulting pigeon dung silver nanoparticles were analyzed using a Zetasizer (ZEN36000, Molvern Instrument, UK). The average size of the pigeon dung silver nanoparticles was 135 nm, as illustrated in
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (JEM-1400, JEOL, Japan) was employed to characterize the size, shape, and morphologies of the pigeon dung silver nanoparticles. The TEM images illustrated in
Elemental analysis of the pigeon dung silver nanoparticles was performed using an Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDX). Energy dispersive spectroscopic analysis was performed to confirm the presence of silver in the pigeon dung nanoparticles. As illustrated in
An agar well diffusion assay was performed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the pigeon dung silver nanoparticles against human pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The inoculum of the bacterial suspensions was swabbed on Muller Hinton agar plates, while the inoculum of the fungal suspensions was swabbed on Potato Dextrose Agar medium. Wells were cut into the middle of each plate, and 100 μl of the pigeon dung nanoparticle mixture prepared according to Example 1 was loaded into each well. The plates were incubated at 37° C. for 18-24 hours (bacteria) or 28° C. for 48-72 hours (fungi). After incubation, the plates were observed for formation of inhibition zones around the wells, indicating antimicrobial activity of the pigeon dung nanoparticles. The zone of inhibition was calculated by measuring the diameter of the inhibition zone formed around each well. These results are illustrated in
Eschericia coli
Staphylococcus aureus
Bacillus
Pseudomonas
Aspergillus flavus
Penicillium griseofulvum
Fusarium oxysporium
Alternaria alternata
It is to be understood that the method of synthesizing antimicrobial silver nanoparticles using pigeon dung is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the generic language of the following claims enabled by the embodiments described herein, or otherwise shown in the drawings or described above in terms sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the claimed subject matter.
