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Abstract
Background:
Himalayan honey, a natural product of wild honey bees found in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal, has been used in medicine for many years. The successful development of nanotechnology and beneficial effects of honey would bring a new opportunity to synthesize hybrid nanomaterials for biomedical applications. Thus, the purpose of this study was to load Himalayan honey onto iron oxide nanoparticles (IO-NPs) and study their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.
Methods:
Himalayan honey loaded iron oxide nanoparticles (HHLIO-NPs) were synthesized and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses were performed for characterization. UV-VIS spectra confirmed the loading of honey onto nanoparticles. The antioxidant activity of these nanoparticles was studied against 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical system. We also tested antimicrobial activity of HHLIO-NPs using well diffusion method towards both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains of Staphylococus aureus & Escherichia coli.
Results:
From XRD analysis, the average particle size was found to be 33–40 nm. The SEM images show needle shape porous structures of HHLIO-NPs compared to free IO-NPs indicating the surfactant-like behaviour of honey. In DPPH radical system, the scavenging activities of Himalayan honey (HH), free IO-NPs and HHLIO-NPs ranged 7.93-35.99%, 11.02-52.02% and 16.10-80.52% respectively, with corresponding IC50 values of 1.36 mg/mL, 1.09 mg/mL and 0.52 mg/mL. The antimicrobial property of all test samples showed a noteworthy inhibition on both bacterial strains. However, the HH and HHLIO-NPs exhibited strong antibacterial activity against E. coli.
Conclusion:
This work reveals that the biological activity of HH is enhanced significantly after loading into IO-NPs. Thus, the HHLIO-NPs would be a promising alternative for antioxidant and antimicrobial agents.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by Pokhara University Research Center (PURC) under the Faculty Research Grants (Grant No. 9/073/074). The authors should like to acknowledge Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) for XRD analysis and Prof. Dr. Wilairat Cheewasedtham, Scientific Equipment Center, Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai Songkhla 90110, Thailand for SEM analysis. The authors also acknowledge Prof. Dr. Rameshwar Adhikari for the interpretation of SEM images. The abstract of this work was submitted at 21st Euro Global Summit on Food and Beverages.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.