A rapid synthesis and antibacterial property of selenium nanoparticles using egg white lysozyme as a stabilizing agent

Research Article A rapid synthesis and antibacterial property of selenium nanoparticles using egg white lysozyme as a stabilizing agent Sakthivel Muthu1,2 · Victor Raju1 · Venkatesh Babu Gopal1 · Amsaveni Gunasekaran2 · Karthik S. Narayan1 · Sathuvan Malairaj1 · Mythileeswari Lakshmikanthan1 · Nallusamy Duraisamy2 · Kathiravan Krishnan2 · Palani Perumal1 Received: 7 March 2019 / Accepted: 16 October 2019 / Published online: 4 November 2019 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 Abstract A simple method for the rapid synthesis of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) by the reduction of selenium dioxide using an aqueous egg white lysozyme solution (stabilizing agent) and ascorbic acid solution (reducing agent) has been described. The formation of SeNPs is assured by characterization with UV–Vis, FT-IR, XRD and morphological characters that were observed using TEM analyses. The absorbance of the SeNPs is found at 250 nm. The TEM images show that the SeNPs are uniform and in spherical shape of size 40–60 nm. The crystalline nature of SeNPs is assured by XRD analysis. The antibacterial property of synthesized SeNPs was tested against the pathogenic bacteria, i.e., Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis and Klebsiella pneumoniae. SeNPs showed more antibacterial activity against B. subtilis (19 mm) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (15 mm) as compared with commercially available antibiotics such as streptomycin and erythromycin. The SeNPs synthesized via this process has proficient antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria. SeNPs could play a significant role in pharmaceutical industries for the development of efficient antibiotic agents. Graphical abstract Keywords Selenium nanoparticles · Egg white lysozyme · Antibacterial activity · Pathogenic bacteria · TEM analyses 1 Introduction Nanotechnology is a futuristic and emerging discipline in science concerning the creation or manipulation of particles and materials in nanoscale sizes [1–3]. The most significant characteristic of nanoparticles is that the chemical, physical and biological properties of nanoparticles are quite different from the properties of the same materials on a larger scale [4, 5]. These materials are obtained from the structured arrangement of groups of atoms * Sakthivel Muthu, ; * Palani Perumal, | 1Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, Tamilnadu 600025, India. 2Department of Biotechnology, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, Tamilnadu 600025, India. SN Applied Sciences (2019) 1:1543 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1509-x Vol.:(0123456789) Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2019) 1:1543 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1509-x and molecules or by minimizing macroscopic materials into a nanometer scale [6, 7]. In the present years, various novel nanoparticles have received much attention due to their great potential in biomedical sciences [8, 9], engineering [10, 11], agriculture [12, 13] and food safety [14, 15]. Among them, selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) are emerging as promising nanoparticles that can potentially be used for a wide range of applications [16, 17]. This element can be considered as an essential trace element micronutrient for living creatures at low concentrations, but it becomes toxic and harmful at higher doses. Normal selenium levels in adults are around 81 mg, and the dietary requirement is ~ 55 mg per day, with an upper limit of ~ 400 mg [18, 19]. SeNPs have been sold on the market as a food additive in a tea product that claims to possess several health benefits [17, 20]. Some studies have shown that SeNPs have unique antibacterial activities [21, 22] and antifungal activities [23, 24]. SeNPs can be used for food safety applications which includes as antibacterial nanocoatings [25, 26], in food packaging [27, 28] and in functional foods [29, 30]. Recently, many efforts have been made in the fabrication of bioactive and biocompatible nanoparticles for a variety of applications [31, 32]. For example, DNA [33, 34], peptides [35, 36] and proteins [33] have been bioconjugated to nanoparticles with the use of the intermediate protecting agents of the nanoparticles or the linking agents [37]. Nowadays, research on direct conjugation of biocompatible agents and biomolecules to nanoparticles is accomplishable [38]. For example, SeNPs capped with biocompatible agents, such as lipid bilayers [39, 40] and dendrimers [41], have been prepared with water solubility and potential biocompatibility. Biomolecules, such as amino acid, have also been used as protective agents for the formation of SeNPs. For example, l-cysteine-capped SeNPs were used for biomedical applications that have been reported by Prasanth et al. [42]. Lysozyme is a commercially valuable small enzyme with an antibacterial function. It kills bacteria by breaking down the cell walls of bacteria and makes the bacteria burst under their internal pressure [43]. Furthermore, evidence has recently shown that the lysozyme is also an active agent for killing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in vitro [44]. Lysozyme is readily available, and its structure and properties are well known. The previous reports showed that the lysozyme-coated silver nanoparticles for differentiating bacterial strains based on antibacterial activity [45]. Lysozyme is present in nature as part of the innate immune system in higher organisms and primarily acts against bacteria through enzymatic hydrolysis of the peptidoglycan layer that surrounds the cell membrane [46]. To further explore the mechanisms of nanoparticle formation and expand the Vol:.(1234567890) repertoire of antimicrobial materials, we investigated methods to integrate lysozyme with SeNPs to form multifunctional antimicrobial agents. Using lysozyme as the catalyst, preparations of selenium nanoparticles were synthesized, and the physical and chemical properties were assessed to characterize the functionality of these hybrid bioinorganic composites. The material was also incubated with a variety of bacterial strains to determine whether the antimicrobial properties of lysozyme, as well as the biocidal effects of selenium, were investigated to develop new bio-nanocomposites. The synthesized selenium nanoparticles were characterized by UV–Vis, FT-IR, XRD and TEM analyses. This study reports for the first time, the preparation and synthesis mechanism of SeNPs using ascorbic acid and egg white lysozyme (EWL) as reducing and stabilizing agent, respectively. This work has been carried out to produce a costeffective synthesis of spherical SeNPs at an appropriate temperature with shorter reaction times. Further, we have described in detail the formation of SeNPs, which were stabilized with EWL molecules. Moreover, the synthesized SeNPs was also investigated for its antibacterial activity against different pathogenic bacteria. Our result signifies that the synthesized S (...truncated)