Sol–Gel Synthesis of Dy-Substituted Ni0.4Cu0.2Zn0.4(Fe2-xDyx)O4 Nano Spinel Ferrites and Evaluation of Their Antibacterial, Antifungal, Antibiofilm and Anticancer Potentialities for Biomedical Application

Abstract

Mohammad Azam Ansari,1 Sultan Akhtar,2 Mohd Ahmar Rauf,3 Mohammad N Alomary,4 Sami AlYahya,4 Saad Alghamdi,5 MA Almessiere,2,6 Abdulhadi Baykal,7 Firdos Khan,8 Syed Farooq Adil,9 Mujeeb Khan,9 Mohammad Rafe Hatshan9 1Department of Epidemic Disease Research, Institute for Research & Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Biophysics, Institute for Research & Medical Consultation (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Surgery, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA; 4National Centre for Biotechnology, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, 11442, Saudi Arabia; 5Laboratory Medicine Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; 6Department of Physics, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia; 7Department of Nanomedicine Research, Institute for Research & Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia; 8Department of Stem Cell Research, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia; 9Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Mohammad Azam Ansari; Syed Farooq Adil Email [email protected]; [email protected]: The constant rise of microbial biofilm formation and drug resistance to existing antimicrobial drugs poses a significant threat to community health around the world because it reduces the efficacy and efficiency of treatments, increasing morbidity, mortality, and health-care expenditures. As a result, there is an urgent need to develop novel antimicrobial agents that inhibit microbial biofilm formation.Methods: The [Ni0.4Cu0.2Zn0.4](Fe2-xDyx)O4(x≤ 0.04) (Ni-Cu-Zn) nano spinel ferrites (NSFs) have been synthesized by the sol–gel auto-combustion process and were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The antimicrobial, antibiofilm and antiproliferative activities of Ni-Cu-Zn NSFs were also examined.Results: The XRD pattern confirms the secondary phase DyFeO3 and Fe2O3 for substituted Dy3+ samples, and the crystallite size ranged from 10 to 19 nm. TEM analysis of NSFs revealed that the particles were cube-shaped and 15nm in size. NSFs exhibited significant antimicrobial, antibiofilm and antiproliferative activity. At concentration of 1 mg/mL, it was found that the NSFs (ie, x=0.0, x=0.01, x=0.02, x=0.03 and x=0.04) inhibit biofilm formation by 27.6, 26.2, 58.5, 33.3 and 25% for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 47.5, 43.5, 48.6, 58.3 and 26.6% for Candida albicans, respectively. SEM images demonstrate that treating MRSA and C. albicans biofilms with NSFs significantly reduces cell adhesion, colonization and destruction of biofilm architecture and extracellular polymeric substances matrices. Additionally, SEM and TEM examination revealed that NSFs extensively damaged the cell walls and membranes of MRSA and C. albicans. Huge ultrastructural alteration such as deformation, disintegration and separation of cell wall and membrane from the cells was observed, indicating significant loss of membrane integrity, which eventually led to cell death. Furthermore, it was observed that NSF inhibited the cancer cell growth and proliferation of HCT-116 in a dose-dependent manner.Conclusion: The current study demonstrated that the synthesized Ni-Cu-Zn NSFs could be used to develop potential antimicrobial surface coatings agents for a varieties of biomedical-related materials and devices in order to prevent the biofilms formation and their colonization. Furthermore, the enhanced antiproliferative properties of manufactured SNFs suggest a wide range of biomedical applications.Keywords: biomedical application, nano spinel ferrites, MRSA, Candida albicans, biofilm, ultrastructural alteration

Keywords

• biomedical application
• nano spinel ferrites
• mrsa
• candida albicans
• biofilm
• ultrastructural alteration