Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using lingonberry and cranberry juices and their antimicrobial activity
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Nanoscience has flourished during the past twenty years. The progress in this area largely depends on the ability to synthesize nanoparticles from various materials in various sizes and shapes, as well as to their effective inclusion into complex structures. The chemical and physical technologies used for the synthesis of nanoparticles are fairly expensive and their by-products and wastes are toxic and harmful for the environment [1], [2], [3]. Scientists propose the synthesis of nanoparticles using a variety of biological systems, such as yeast, fungi, bacteria, fruit and plant extracts as an alternative to the chemical and physical technologies [4], [5]. The usual method followed for metal nanoparticle synthesis is reduction [6]. In producing nanoparticles using plant extracts, the extract is simply mixed with a solution of the metal salt at room temperature and the reaction is complete within minutes [7]. The nature of the plant extract, its concentration, the concentration of the metal salt, the pH, temperature and contact time are known to affect the rate of production of the nanoparticles, their quantity and other characteristics [8]. A variety of plant and fruit extracts such as Murraya koenigii [9], mangosteen [10] and Mangifera indica [11] leaf, Tansy fruits [12], latex of Jatropha curcas [13], Cinnamomum zeylanicum leaf broth [14], Camellia sinensis extract [15], Aloe vera plant extract [16], mushroom extract [17], and even honey [18] have been used for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. However, there is no data in the literature about the usage of cranberry and lingonberry juices for silver nanoparticles synthesis.
Cranberries and cranberry products (mash, depectinized mash, pomace, raw juice, clarified juice and juice concentrate) displayed good antioxidant capacity of antiradical, antiviral and antibacterial properties. Cranberries have been associated with several cardiovascular health benefits [19], and anti-carcinogenic properties [20]. Cranberry and lingonberry cold-compressed juices have anti-inflammatory and anti-atherothrombotic actions [21]. The cranberry phenols displayed good free radical-scavenging properties, but were less efficient at inhibiting and peroxidation of lipids [22]. The anti-adhesion mechanism of cranberry-proanthocyanins prevents docking of bacteria on host tissues [23]. Bacteria showed the greatest resistance toward the cranberry extracts obtained from the mash and the macerated and depectinized mash [24].
The lingonberries contain plentiful organic acids, vitamin C, provitamin A (as beta carotene), vitamins of group B (B1, B2, B3), potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. In addition to these nutrients, they also contain phytochemicals that are thought to counteract urinary-tract infections, and the seeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These phenolics have been proposed to have beneficial effects on health as antioxidants and anticarcinogens. Lingonberries exhibited the highest antiproliferative activities among the berries [25]. Lingonberries are one of the richest sources of phenolic compounds while they also contain cyanidin glycosides and 30 compounds of hydroxycinnamic acids [26]. Lingonberries are rich in benzoic acid and are often used as antimicrobial agents in food preparations.
Biosynthesis of nanomaterials is more advantageous than the other methods of synthesis. Plant or berry extracts as biological materials have been successfully used to synthesize silver nanoparticles. In this research work, we report on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles at ambient conditions assisted by ultraviolet irradiation using lingonberry and cranberry juices. In addition, the silver nanoparticles were tested for its antimicrobial activity. It is known that silver nanoparticles cause irreparable damage to the cellular membrane [27], [28], which enables the accumulation of nanoparticles in the cytoplasm [27]. It is suggested that the antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles arises due to this damage and not its toxicity [28]. It is therefore expected that small size nanoparticles are able to penetrate across membranes easily [28], [29]. Similarly, nanocrystal antibacterial activity is found to have a dependence on crystal shape [28]. It is important to determine the antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles against various pathogens, especially those producing toxins.
Section snippets
Preparation of juices
Lingonberry juice was prepared using freshly collected berries from the forest of South Lithuania. They were surface cleaned with distilled water, crushed and filtered through 8–12 μm of blacband filter (Filtrak, Germany) to obtain their juices. Cranberry 100% juice (SIA “Aneva J”, Latvia) without any additives was bought in a local supermarket. Both juices were stored at the 5 ± 1 °C in the dark and used for experiments.
Synthesis of silver nanoparticles
Different amounts of berry juices (Table 1) of 10% concentration and 25 μl of
Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles
UV–vis spectroscopy was used to examine the formation of the metal nanoparticles by reduction of metal ions in aqueous solutions. At first, the optical characteristics of pure and diluted lingonberry and cranberry juices (Fig. 1) were determined.
The absorbances of 5% lingonberry juice and 4.75% of cranberry juice in the water solution were lower than 0.5 a.u. According to [33], two absorbance peaks obtained in UV–vis spectra (Fig. 1) belonged to anthocyanins. The peaks of anthocyanins were
Conclusions
The research showed that lingonberry and cranberry juices could be used as bioreductants for silver ions for silver nanoparticle biosynthesis. UV light assisted the phytosynthesis of short-term colloid silver particles. The nanoparticles were easily monitored by recording their absorption spectra as well as by electron microscopy analysis. Localized surface plasmon resonances of silver nanoparticles formed using lingonberry and cranberry juices were observed, respectively, at 485 nm and 520 nm in
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