Gum Arabic-assisted green synthesis, characterization, antimicrobial, antibiofilm and antiparasitic activities of silver-selenium nanoparticles: Reaction mechanism determination.

The study looked at a safe way to synthesize and validate silver-selenium nanoparticles using Gum Arabic as a good green reducing and stabilizing agent which is then characterized by techniques like scanning electron microscopy with mapping, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy elemental analysis, zeta potential, dynamic light scattering analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. We evaluated the efficacy of the synthesized silver-selenium nanoparticles as a smart antimicrobial agent by evaluating their ability to inhibit the tested Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria, and unicellular fungi, the minimal amount needed to stop their development, and their efficacy in preventing biofilm formation. We used the membrane leakage test to ascertain the kinetic analysis and potential mechanism of the antimicrobial response. The worm and larval stages of Trichinella spiralis were subjected to bioassay and LC50 and LC90 determination. The produced silver-selenium nanoparticles are all almost the same size, round or oval, range from 37 to 18.3 nm with an average diameter of 10.9 ± 1.9 nm and a range of 3.7 to 18.3 nm. Silver-selenium nanoparticles exhibit an encouraged efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis (41.0 mm in antimicrobial tests), with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 1.56 and 0.781 µg/mL, respectively. Next in line are the unicellular fungi; Candida albicans 32.0 mm (MIC = 1.562 µg/mL), B. subtilis 31.0 mm (MIC = 3.125 µg/mL), and Candida tropicalis 40.0 mm (MIC = 3.125 µg/mL). The greatest notable decrease in biofilm generation was observed in Candida albicans treated with 1.562 ppm (MIC) of silver-selenium nanoparticles (90.82%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (77.92%) treated with 0.7812 ppm (MIC) of silver-selenium nanoparticles and Klebsiella pneumoniae (77.80%) treated with 1.562 ppm (MIC) of silver-selenium nanoparticles. The low amount (10 µg/mL) of silver-selenium nanoparticles had the smallest impact on Trichinella spiralis, causing less than 48% death even after 48 h, while higher amounts (50–200 µg/mL) led to complete death at 48 h (50 µg/mL), and 200 µg/mL worked quickly, causing complete death by 36 h. The promising findings suggested that the produced silver-selenium nanoparticles could be applied against harmful bacteria, parasites, and yeasts as we enter a new era for battling disease resistance in biomedical domains.