Antibacterial and Cytotoxicity Studies of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized by Endophytic Fusarium solani Isolated from Withania somnifera (L.)

The present study establish extracellular production of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) using Fusarium solani, from medicinal plant Withania somnifera (L.) (ashwagandha) and it’s antibacterial and cytotoxicity effects. Biological- AgNP (Bio- AgNP) were synthesized by using fungal cell free extract and characterized by SEM, TEM, UV spectroscopy, XRD, FTIR and AFM analysis.  Antibacterial properties were assayed by well diffusion and cytotoxicity by RBC lysis test and MTT assay respectively. X- ray diffraction and microscopic analysis revealed the well dispersed and crystalline nature of spherical nanoparticles with a calculated size ranging from 10 - 50 nm. The Bio-AgNP exhibited significant antibacterial properties in a range of 50-100 µgml-1 against the selected clinical pathogens Escherichia coli,Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The observed hemolysis of 3.906 % at 50 µg ml-1   suggested the safe therapeutic application of Bio - AgNP. MTT assay revealed that at the suggeseted concentration 69 % of cells are viable. These outcomes are extremely encouraging to utilize Bio-AgNP as a medication. Exploiting the endophytic organisms from therapeutic plants for improvement of nanomaterial is a uninvestigated and relatively novel territory. This may improve the likelihood in future to push the limit ahead in nanomedicine.