Study on the Inhibitory Activity of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Against Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from Burn Wounds

Burn is one of the most devastating conditions encountered in medicine. Burn wounds are appropriate environments for growth of bacteria, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The aim of this study was to investigate the antibacterial properties of zinc oxide nanoparticles on growth inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In this experimental study, 25 burn wound samples were collected from patients hospitalized in Imam Musa Kazem hospital, Isfahan in 2012. After culturing and diagnostic tests, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was detected. The antibiotic resistance pattern was determined for amikacin, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, cefepime, cefotaxime, tobramycin, imipenem, piperacillin, gentamicin, and ceftizoxime using standard Kirby-bauer disk diffusion method. Antibacterial activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles in sizes of 5 and 100nm were evaluated using well diffusion method in concentrations of 100.00, 50.00, 25.00, 12.50, 6.25, and 3.13mg/ml. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and Chi-square tests. The significance level was considered as p<0.001. In this investigation, Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed sensitivity to piperacillin, tobramycin, and gentamicin. Zinc oxide nanoparticles in size of 5 nm at the concentration of 25, 50, 100mg/ml and in size of 100nm at the concentration of 100mg/ml had antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from burn wounds. The results of this study showed that zinc oxide nanoparticles have inhibitory effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Also, the inhibitory effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles increases with increasing nanoparticle concentration and decreasing nanoparticle size.