Green Synthesis of Ag Nanoparticles from Aqueous Extracts of Leaves and Fruit of Casuarina equisetifolia against Candida albicans and other Clinical Isolates

The prevalence of the infectious diseases caused by Candida species and other human pathogenic microbes has led to the discovery of some natural agents against multidrug resistant microbes. Therefore, this research was designated to determine the capability of synthesized nanoparticles (NPs) from aqueous extract of leaves and fruits of Casuarina equisetifolia as anticandidal and antibacterial against some microbes. Silver NPs (AgNPs) were successfully gained from aqueous leaves and fruit extracts of C. equisetifolia which is defined on the basis of UV–visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscope. The results showed that leaves and fruits extracts of C. equisetifolia acts as an excellent capping agent. XRD based on the FWHM analysis showed that AgCl and Ag had an average NPs size of 90.97 nm and 71.28 nm, respectively for fruits and 15.33 nm and 14.01 nm, respectively for leaves. UV–visible spectroscopy showed a maximum absorbance at 442 nm for fruits and 433 nm for leaves. SEM showed that the size of NPs from leaves lied in between of (30 to180 nm) and for fruits (70 to 250 nm). Candida albicans was severely affected by NPs of leaves with inhibition zone (3.03± 1.61 cm) and NPs of fruits had (1.37± 0.15 cm) inhibition zone. Nanoparticles from leaves exhibited maximum activity against P. mirabilis (3.52± 0.13 cm) and low activities against M. luteus (1.50±0.18 cm) inhibition zones. In conclusion, these eco-friendly synthesized AgNPs from leaves and fruits of C. equisetifolia could be used as competitive alternative natural drugs than conventional synthetic chemicals. © 2021 Friends Science Publishers