AUTHOR=Al-Shabib Nasser A. , Husain Fohad Mabood , Qais Faizan Abul , Ahmad Naushad , Khan Altaf , Alyousef Abdullah A. , Arshad Mohammed , Noor Saba , Khan Javed Masood , Alam Pravej , Albalawi Thamer H. , Shahzad Syed Ali 

TITLE=Phyto-Mediated Synthesis of Porous Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles From Withania somnifera Root Extract: Broad-Spectrum Attenuation of Biofilm and Cytotoxic Properties Against HepG2 Cell Lines

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01680

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.01680

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>There is grave necessity to counter the menace of drug-resistant biofilms of pathogens using nanomaterials. Moreover, we need to produce nanoparticles (NPs) using inexpensive clean biological approaches that demonstrate broad-spectrum inhibition of microbial biofilms and cytotoxicity against HepG2 cell lines. In the current research work, titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) NPs were fabricated through an environmentally friendly green process using the root extract of <italic>Withania somnifera</italic> as the stabilizing and reducing agent to examine its antibiofilm and anticancer potential. Further, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron micrograph (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) techniques were used for determining the crystallinity, functional groups involved, shape, size, thermal behavior, surface area, and porosity measurement, respectively, of the synthesized TiO<sub>2</sub> NPs. Antimicrobial potential of the TiO<sub>2</sub> NPs was determined by evaluating the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against <italic>Escherichia coli</italic>, <italic>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</italic>, methicillin-resistant <italic>Staphylococcus aureus</italic>, <italic>Listeria monocytogenes</italic>, <italic>Serratia marcescens</italic>, and <italic>Candida albicans</italic>. Furthermore, at levels below the MIC (0.5 × MIC), TiO<sub>2</sub> NPs demonstrated significant inhibition of biofilm formation (43–71%) and mature biofilms (24–64%) in all test pathogens. Cell death due to enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production could be responsible for the impaired biofilm production in TiO<sub>2</sub> NP–treated pathogens. The synthesized NPs induced considerable reduction in the viability of HepG2 <italic>in vitro</italic> and could prove effective in controlling liver cancer. In summary, the green synthesized TiO<sub>2</sub> NPs demonstrate multifarious biological properties and could be used as an anti-infective agent to treat biofilm-based infections and cancer.</p>