The Antifungal Activity of Silver Nanoparticles and Fluconazole on AspergillusFumigatus

Background and Objective: In recent years, the resistance of opportunisticfungal strains to commercially available antifungal agents has been increased.The serious side effects of these compounds on mammalian cells forced theresearchers to search for new antifungal substances. Thus we decided toinvestigate the antifungal properties of silver nanoparticles againstAspergillusfumigatus.Material & Methods: To investigate the antifungal effect of the round silvernanoparticles with 10nm diameter against Aspergillusfumigatus, the diameterof colonies after 8 days as well as the number of colonies in different dayswas determined, using direct drop test. After that, to measure the MinimumInhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicide Concentration(MFC) values of silver nanoparticles and fluconazole, Micro Dilution Brothmethod was performed. At the end, the MIC and MFC values of silvernanoparticles were compared to MIC and MFC of fluconazole.Results: The results obtained from direct drop test confirm that the silvernanoparticles can decrease the diameter of fungal colonies in dose dependentmanner. The data of silver nanoparticles on the number of colonies indifferent days shows that the number of colonies increases up to sixth day andthen becomes fixed. Based on the results of Micro Dilution Broth method,the MIC and the MFC values of this component are 31.25 and 62.5ppm,respectively.Conclusion: The present study confirms that silver nanoparticles with 10nmdiameter have antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigates.Keywords: Silver nanoparticles; Aspergillusfumigatus; Antifungal activity