Antimicrobial and anticancer activities of porous chitosan-alginate biosynthesized silver nanoparticles

The main aim of this study was to obtain porous antimicrobial composites consisting of chitosan, alginate, and biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Chitosan and alginate were used owing to their pore-forming capacity, while AgNPs were used for their antimicrobial property. The developed porous composites of chitosan-alginate-AgNPs were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The FT-IR results revealed the presence of a strong chemical interaction between chitosan and alginate due to polyelectrolyte complex; whereas, the XRD results confirmed the presence of AgNPs in the composites. The dispersion of AgNPs in the porous membrane was uniform with a pore size of 50-500 μm. Antimicrobial activity of the composites was checked with Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The developed composites resulted in the formation of a zone of inhibition of 11 ± 1 mm for the Escherichia coli, and 10 ± 1 mm for Staphylococcus aureus. The bacterial filtration efficiency of chitosan-alginate-AgNPs was 1.5-times higher than that of the chitosan-alginate composite. The breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 was used to test the anticancer activity of the composites. The IC50 value of chitosan-alginate-AgNPs on MDA-MB-231 was 4.6 mg. The developed chitosan-alginate-AgNPs composite showed a huge potential for its applications in antimicrobial filtration and cancer treatment.