Antimicrobial Air Filters Using Natural Euscaphis japonica Nanoparticles

PLoS One. 2015 May 14;10(5):e0126481. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126481. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Controlling bioaerosols has become more important with increasing participation in indoor activities. Treatments using natural-product nanomaterials are a promising technique because of their relatively low toxicity compared to inorganic nanomaterials such as silver nanoparticles or carbon nanotubes. In this study, antimicrobial filters were fabricated from natural Euscaphis japonica nanoparticles, which were produced by nebulizing E. japonica extract. The coated filters were assessed in terms of pressure drop, antimicrobial activity, filtration efficiency, major chemical components, and cytotoxicity. Pressure drop and antimicrobial activity increased as a function of nanoparticle deposition time (590, 855, and 1150 µg/cm2(filter) at 3-, 6-, and 9-min depositions, respectively). In filter tests, the antimicrobial efficacy was greater against Staphylococcus epidermidis than Micrococcus luteus; ~61, ~73, and ~82% of M. luteus cells were inactivated on filters that had been coated for 3, 6, and 9 min, respectively, while the corresponding values were ~78, ~88, and ~94% with S. epidermidis. Although statistically significant differences in filtration performance were not observed between samples as a function of deposition time, the average filtration efficacy was slightly higher for S. epidermidis aerosols (~97%) than for M. luteus aerosols (~95%). High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) analyses confirmed that the major chemical compounds in the E. japonica extract were 1(ß)-O-galloyl pedunculagin, quercetin-3-O-glucuronide, and kaempferol-3-O-glucoside. In vitro cytotoxicity and disk diffusion tests showed that E. japonica nanoparticles were less toxic and exhibited stronger antimicrobial activity toward some bacterial strains than a reference soluble nickel compound, which is classified as a human carcinogen. This study provides valuable information for the development of a bioaerosol control system that is environmental friendly and suitable for use in indoor environments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air Filters / microbiology*
  • Air Microbiology
  • Anti-Infective Agents / chemistry*
  • Anti-Infective Agents / isolation & purification
  • Anti-Infective Agents / pharmacology*
  • Bacterial Infections / prevention & control
  • Humans
  • Magnoliopsida / chemistry*
  • Micrococcus luteus / drug effects
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry*
  • Plant Extracts / isolation & purification
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology*
  • Staphylococcus epidermidis / drug effects

Substances

  • Anti-Infective Agents
  • Plant Extracts

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (2013K000386), the Railway Technology Research Project funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (14RTRP-B081249-01), Republic of Korea, and was partially supported by the KIST Institutional Program (2E24652). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.