REMEDIATION OF ONYCHOMYCOSIS USING BIONANOTECHNOLOGY

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Basic Sciences Department, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Environmental Research, Ain Shams University

2 Microbiology Department, Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education, Ain Shams University

3 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University

4 Faculty of Medicine, Misr University for Science and Technology

5 Center of Mycology and Biotechnology, Al-Azhar University

6 Microbiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University

Abstract

Onychomycosis is a common chronic fungal infection of the nails that causes discoloration and/or thickening of the nail plate. It is challenging to treat and is associated with high recurrence rate and require lengthy duration of treatment, which poses a risk of adverse effects and drug interactions. This study aims to investigate the in vitro antifungal activity of garlic extract, black pepper extract, chitosan, and their green-synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) against fungal strains isolated from patients with onychomycosis. The study further aims to develop these formulations as potential safe and effective alternatives to commercial antifungal drugs, addressing the limitations of current therapies. Their antifungal activity was assessed in vitro by agar diffusion method against isolated fungi that causing onychomycosis infection. The results revealed that the nano-formulations exhibited superior antifungal activity compared to their crude extracts. Garlic and black pepper extracts possess good antifungal activity and chitosan has low antifungal activity. While garlic-ZnONPs, Black pepper-ZnONPs and nano chitosan showed comparably strong antifungal activity toward isolated fungi that causing onychomycosis infection. The antifungal effect varied according to fungal species. The maximum activity was noted for that garlic-ZnONPs against Candida albicans (35 mm) and T. rubrum (35 mm). Nano Zn-black pepper showed good antifungal potential against Candida albicans (32 mm), Rhodotorula muciliginosa (32 mm) and A.niger (30 mm). Nano chitosan showed high effect on Candida albicans (33 mm) and T.rubrum (35 mm). Cells structural damage that showed on TEM cause fungal cells damage. The bioinformatics analysis confirmed the obtained results. In conclusion, nanoparticles improve drug targeting and enhances the drug profile and permeation. Future respective are required for detailed mechanism of action with more advanced investigations about the antifungal activity are important.
 

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