Antimicrobial activity of nanocellulose composite hydrogel isolated from an agricultural waste

Infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance have become one of the extreme health threats of this century. Overuse of antibiotics leads to pollution. To overcome this threat, the current strategy is to develop a substitute for these antibiotics that are extracted from natural sources. In this study, nanocellulose (NC) was isolated from an agricultural waste (wheat straw) and then oxidized with the help of sodium periodate to obtain dialdehyde nanocellulose (DA-NC). Then, chitosan (Ch) and DA-NC are both crosslinked with each other in different weight ratios, to obtain NC/Ch composite hydrogels. The resulted hydrogel is also characterized to confirm its structure, morphology and composition. The hydrogel was also tested for antimicrobial activities against bacteria, algae as well as fungal species to check its applicability for biomedical applications. The six microbes used for the ananlysis are Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium solani. The antimicrobial assessment of the hydrogel is evaluated via inhibition zone and optical density analysis. The resulted nanocellulose/chitosan (NC/Ch) hydrogel shows the uniform distribution of nanocellulose in the composite and the synergistic effect of their properties. Hydrogel serves excellent antimicrobial results which makes it a promising candidate for various biomedical applications.