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. 2018 Apr 20;7(4):60.
doi: 10.3390/antiox7040060.

Milling the Mistletoe: Nanotechnological Conversion of African Mistletoe (Loranthus micranthus) Intoantimicrobial Materials

Muhammad Sarfraz  1 , Sharoon Griffin  2   3 , Tamara Gabour Sad  4 , Rama Alhasan  5 , Muhammad Jawad Nasim  6 , Muhammad Irfan Masood  7 , Karl Herbert Schäfer  8 , Chukwunonso E C C Ejike  9 , Cornelia M Keck  10 , Claus Jacob  11 , Azubuike P Ebokaiwe  12
Affiliations

Milling the Mistletoe: Nanotechnological Conversion of African Mistletoe (Loranthus micranthus) Intoantimicrobial Materials

Muhammad Sarfraz et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

Nanosizing represents a straight forward technique to unlock the biological activity of complex plant materials. The aim of this study was to develop herbal nanoparticles with medicinal value from dried leaves and stems of Loranthus micranthus with the aid of ball-milling, high speed stirring, and high-pressure homogenization techniques. The milled nanoparticles were characterized using laser diffraction analysis, photon correlation spectroscopy analysis, and light microscopy. The average size of leaf nanoparticles was around 245 nm and that of stem nanoparticles was around 180 nm. The nanoparticles were tested for their antimicrobial and nematicidal properties against a Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, a Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus carnosus, fungi Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and a nematode Steinernemafeltiae. The results show significant activities for both leaf and (particularly) stem nanoparticles of Loranthus micranthus on all organisms tested, even at a particle concentration as low as 0.01% (w/w). The results observed indicate that nanoparticles (especially of the stem) of Loranthus micranthus could serve as novel antimicrobial agents with wide-ranging biomedical applications.

Keywords: Loranthus micranthus; antimicrobial activity; mistletoe nanoparticle; nanosizing; nematicidal activity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors have no conflicts to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A live plant of mistletoe growing in a tree (a) and the dried leaves and stem of such a plant (b).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Microscopic view of nanosizing from bulk material of L. micranthus leaf (LML) and L. micranthus stem (LMS) to high speed stirring (HSS) and high-pressure homogenization (HPH)-processed nanosized material. The micrographs are at 200-fold magnification with a scale bar of 100 µm. The characterization of samples using Laser Diffraction (LD) and Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (PCS) techniques is presented for (b) L. micranthus leaf (LML) samples and (c) L. micranthus stem (LMS) samples. The average size of the particles shown through these graphs demonstrates the effectiveness of the procedure where final sizes achieved for leaf samples are around 245 nm, and those of stem samples are around 180 nm. Z-average is the average of particles sizes and corresponds with the right y-axis of nanometer scale.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Influence of nanosized (a) L. micranthus leaf nanoparticles (LML NPs) and (b) L. micranthus stem nanoparticles (LMS NPs) on the growth of E. coli. Values represent mean ± SD *** p < 0.001. See text for experimental details.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Influence of nanosized (a) L. micranthus leaf nanoparticles (LML NPs) and (b) L. micranthus stem nanoparticles (LMS NPs) on the growth of S. carnosus. Values represent mean ± SD ** p < 0.01 and *** p < 0.001. See text for experimental details.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Influence of nanosized (a) leaves (LML NPs) and (b)stem (LMS NPs) of L. micranthus on the growth of C. albicans. Values represent mean ± SD *** p < 0.001. See text for experimental details.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Influence of nanosized (a) L. micranthus leaf (LML NPs) and (b) L. micranthus stem nanoparticles (LMS NPs) on the growth of S. cerevisae. Values represent mean ± SD *** p < 0.001. See text for experimental details.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Influence of nanosized (a) L. micranthus leaf nanoparticles (LML NPs) and (b) L. micranthus stem nanoparticles (LMS NPs) on the viability of S. feltiae. Values represent mean ± SD *** p < 0.001. See text for experimental details.
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