Therapeutic potential of biosynthesized Ag/AgO NPs against Candida albicans and Candida auris

Candida albicans and Candida auris are the emerging fungal pathogens having implication on hospital outbreaks and a lead cause for septicemia with increased mortality rates. The integration of green-synthesized nanoparticles with existing antifungal therapies offers a transformative approach in managing these infections. This study focuses on Phoenix dactylifera inflorescence mediated synthesis of Ag/AgO NPs for investigating their antifungal, antibiofilm, and antivirulence action. The obtained Ag/AgO NPs, 19 nm in size and mainly spherical in shape were characterized by UV-Spectroscopy, XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX, TEM and DLS. The MIC values obtained for C. albicans and C. auris were found to be 62.5 and 125 μg/ml, respectively. Additionally, the synthesized NPs displayed significant anti-biofilm properties, reducing biofilm tested on glass tubes by 80 % at 62.5 μg/ml. The microscopic analysis showed, Ag/AgO NPs significantly inhibits the colonization and adhesions of biofilm on glass surfaces on treatment at different concentration as well as significantly inhibited the germ tube formation and disrupted the established biofilm for both Candida strains. The morphogenesis of candida from yeast to hyphae and vice-versa was also substantially inhibited at all tested concentration of Ag/AgO NPs. SEM investigation depicted, Ag/AgO NPs significantly damaged the cell membrane and cell wall that led to the loss of cell integrity that finally caused the cell death. The obtained activity of green synthesized Ag/AgO NPs, to inhibit the biofilm formation and germ tube formation as well as hyphae to yeast and yeast to hyphae transition, suggests their potential use in combination with existing antifungal drugs for the better treatment outcomes.