The study of antifungal activities of magnesium oxide and copper oxide nanoparticles against different species of Aspergillus

Food can be contaminated with various fungi. The use of nanotechnology, especially metal oxides can reduce this contamination. The aim of this study was to investigate the antifungal effect of magnesium oxide and copper oxide nanoparticles against Aspergillus species that are important in food hygiene.
Magnesium oxide and copper oxide nanoparticles were synthesized chemically, then their morphology and size were investigated by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and zetasizer. MIC and MFC of these nanoparticles against Aspergillus species were examined individually and in combination with each other by micro dilution method in saboraud dextrose broth and saboraud dextrose agar media and FIC was calculated.
The size of nanoparticles was between 10 to 60 nm. They had different forms and high purity. The mean MIC and MFC values of magnesium oxide nanoparticles for the species of A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. niger and A. parasiticus were 10.1 and 10.31 mg/ml, respectively. These values for copper oxide nanoparticles were 10.25 and 10.08, respectively. Most inhibitory and fungicidal effect of these nanoparticles was on A. niger and A. fumigatus respectively. Since FIC index was greater than 1, there was no interaction. The mean MIC value of the two nanoparticles combination was 9.49 mg/ml.
This study showed that each of magnesium oxide or copper oxide nanoparticles as anti-fungal substances could have inhibitory and fungicidal properties individually, but their combination do not have any interacting effect.