Scholars International Journal of Biochemistry (SIJB)
Volume-3 | Issue-04 | 87-91
Original Research Article
Antifungal Properties of Copper Nanoparticles against Aspergillus niger
Salman Maqsood, Saba Qadir, Asim Hussain, Asma Asghar, Rubab Saleem, Sara Zaheer, Noman Nayyar
Published : April 14, 2020
Abstract
Except in severe conditions, A. niger it is a highly resistant fungal strain and causes many health issues with respect to asthma and allergy in humans. The fungus, known as the black mold in fruit and vegetables, also leads to the degradation of foodstuffs. Nanomaterials like nanoparticles of different metals are in progress against many diseases and microbial strains. Copper nanoparticles are one of them used against different microbial strains. The current study was designed for the production and characterization of copper nanoparticles and to evaluate their antifungal activities against A. niger. The production of Cu NPs was done by reduction method explained by Kathad and Gajera (2014) and their characterization was done by using UV-visible spectrophotometer. To evaluate their antifungal activity A. niger was grown on PDA medium with different concentrations of Cu NPs. The growth rate of A. niger was evaluated at different time intervals and compared with control. The UV-visible spectra indicated the presences of Cu NPs as maximum absorbance peak was observed at 590 nm. A significant inhibitory effect was observed on growth rate of A. niger at different concentrations of Cu NPs. Comparative analysis of these concentrations depicted that maximum inhibition was observed at 1.5% concentration of CU NPs. It is concluded that copper nanoparticles show antifungal activity and their activity is concentration dependant.