Anti-quorum Sensing and Anti-biofilm Activity of Zinc Oxide Nanospikes

Mohd Farhan Khan; Fohad Mabood Husain; Qamar Zia; Ejaz Ahmad; Azfar Jamal; Mohammed Alaidarous; Saeed Banawas; Md Manzar Alam; Bader A Alshehri; Mohd Jameel; Pravej Alam; Mohd Imran Ahamed; Akhter H Ansari; Iqbal Ahmad

doi:10.1021/acsomega.0c03634

Anti-quorum Sensing and Anti-biofilm Activity of Zinc Oxide Nanospikes

ACS Omega. 2020 Dec 10;5(50):32203-32215. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c03634. eCollection 2020 Dec 22.

Authors

Mohd Farhan Khan^{1

2}, Fohad Mabood Husain³, Qamar Zia^{4

5}, Ejaz Ahmad⁶, Azfar Jamal^{4

7}, Mohammed Alaidarous^{4

5}, Saeed Banawas^{4

5

8}, Md Manzar Alam⁹, Bader A Alshehri⁴, Mohd Jameel¹⁰, Pravej Alam¹¹, Mohd Imran Ahamed¹², Akhter H Ansari¹, Iqbal Ahmad¹³

Affiliations

¹ Nano Solver Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Z. H. College of Engineering & Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.
² Department of Science, Gagan College of Management and Technology, Aligarh 202002, India.
³ Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Health and Basic Science Research Centre, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.
⁷ Department of Biology, College of Science, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Biomedical Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, United States.
⁹ Regional Research Institute of Unani Medicine (Under CCRUM, Ministry of AYUSH), Patna 800008, India.
¹⁰ Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.
¹¹ Department of Biology, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz Univrsity, Alkharj 11942, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
¹² Department of Chemistry, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.
¹³ Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.

Abstract

This study evaluates the impact of two separate incubation periods (4 and 6 weeks) on the morphology of sol-gel-fabricated ZnO nanospikes (ZNs), that is, ZN1 and ZN2, respectively. We further analyzed the inhibitory effects of ZN1 and ZN2 on quorum sensing (QS) and biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PAO1) and Chromobacterium violaceum (strains 12472 and CVO26). The size of the synthesized ZNs was in the range of 40-130 nm, and finer nanoparticles were synthesized after an incubation period of 6 weeks. Treatment with ZNs decreased the production of violacein in the pathogen without affecting the bacterial growth, which indicated that ZNs inhibited the QS signaling regulated by N-acyl homoserine lactone. ZN2 had a higher inhibitory action on the virulence factor productivity than ZN1. Furthermore, ZN2-treated cells displayed a substantial decrease in azocasein-degrading protease activity (80%), elastase activity (83%), and pyocyanin production (85%) relative to untreated P. aeruginosa PAO1 cells. Treatment with ZN2 decreased swarming motility and exopolysaccharide production by 89 and 85%, respectively. ZN2 was effective against both the las & pqs systems of P. aeruginosa and exhibited broad-spectrum activity. Additionally, ZN2 was more efficient in inhibiting the biofilm formation at the attachment stage than ZN1. These findings revealed that in P. aeruginosa, ZN2 demonstrated inhibitory effects on QS as well as on the development of biofilms. Thus, ZN2 can be potentially used to treat drug-resistant P. aeruginosa infections.