ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF ZINC OXIDE - GENTAMICIN HYBRID MATERIAL

Nanocrystalline ZnO particles were prepared from ethanolic solutions of zinc acetate by forced hydrolysis, at a low temperature. The fresh prepared ZnO nanoparticles were coated with gentamicin. The nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermal analysis (TG-DSC). The electronic (UV-Vis), infrared (FTIR) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra were also recorded. The biological activity tests such as minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and disk diffusion were performed in Mueller-Hinton broth using different concentrations of ZnO and ZnO-gentamicin hybrid nanoparticles, by a standard microbial method on Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. The bacteriological tests indicate a synergic activity of ZnO-gentamicin nanoparticles. The release rate of gentamicin was monitored photometrically with UV-Vis spectrometer.