Evaluation and comparison of the effects of biosynthesized selenium and silver nanoparticles using plant extracts with antifungal drugs on the growth of Aspergillus and Candida species

The biosynthesis of nanoparticles stands as an uncomplicated, biocompatible, inexpensive, and secure approach for replacing the available chemical and physical methods. In this paper, Selenium nanoparticles (Se-NPs) and silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) were biosynthesized using Nepeta and Berberine plant extracts, respectively. UV-Vis, FT-IR, and FESEM/EDAX techniques were applied for confirming the synthesis of nanoparticles. In addition, the method of Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was utilized to perform a sensitivity test on fungal species' leachates through the usage of Duplicate. The application biosynthesized Se-NPs and Ag-NPs at concentrations of 1 mu g/mL and below caused no growth of fungal agents. However, antifungal drugs at concentrations higher than 1 mu g/mL and even up to 64 mu g/mL inhibited the growth of these drug-resistant fungi. A comparison of the results showed that even these nanoparticles in some cases have a better effect than the group of antifungal drugs. Therefore, the usage of biosynthesized nanoparticles is considered to be more convenient and economical due to the increasing drug resistance of opportunistic and pathogenic microorganisms towards the exerted target drugs.