AUTHOR=Tiwari Vishvanath , Mishra Neha , Gadani Keval , Solanki P. S. , Shah N. A. , Tiwari Monalisa 

TITLE=Mechanism of Anti-bacterial Activity of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle Against Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01218

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2018.01218

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Acinetobacter baumannii</italic> is a multi-drug resistant opportunistic pathogen, which causes respiratory and urinary tract infections. Its prevalence increases gradually in the clinical setup. Carbapenems (beta-lactam) are most effective antibiotics till now against <italic>A. baumannii</italic>, but the development of resistance against it may lead to high mortality. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to develop an alternative drug against <italic>A. baumannii</italic>. In the present study, we have synthesized ZnO nanoparticle (ZnO-NP) and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and UV-Visible spectroscopy. Prepared ZnO-NPs have the size of 30 nm and have different characteristics of ZnO-NPs. Growth kinetics and disk diffusion assay showed that ZnO-NP demonstrated good antibacterial activity against carbapenem resistant <italic>A. baumannii</italic>. We have also investigated the mechanism of action of ZnO-NPs on the carbapenem resistant strain of <italic>A. baumannii</italic>. The proposed mechanism of action of ZnO involves the production of reactive oxygen species, which elevates membrane lipid peroxidation that causes membrane leakage of reducing sugars, DNA, proteins, and reduces cell viability. These results demonstrate that ZnO-NP could be developed as alternative therapeutics against <italic>A. baumannii</italic>.</p>