Abstract

Recently, biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (NPs), due to low toxicity and high compatibility with the environment, has added to the antimicrobial properties of this substance. In this study, silver NPs were synthesized from Candida albicans and their antifungal effects against Candida glabrata were evaluated. First, silver NPs using clinical strains of Candida albicans were synthesized in the presence of silver nitrate 1.5 mM at room temperature. Then, physicochemical properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were explored using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrophotometry (UV-Vis) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). Finally, time-kill curve study of Candida glabrata and H+-ATPase activity of this yeast were evaluated in the presence of biosynthesized silver NPs. The data obtained from SEM shows that Candida albicans can synthesize silver NPs with the size of 20 to 80 nm with spherical to oval morphology and XRD showed that these NPs are crystalline in nature. Also, the data obtained from the Time-kill curve study of Candida glabrata and the study of H+-ATPase activity of this yeast indicated that the cells of this yeast were reduced at (P � 0.001) level and indicated favourable antifungal activity on this yeast. In fact, it can be concluded that Candida albicans is potentially able to synthesize silver NPs and these NPs have favourable antifungal properties. In addition, it was revealed that standard strain of Candida glabrata is more sensitive than clinical strain to biosynthesizes silver NPs. © 2017, Scientific Publishers of India. All rights reserved.