BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS FROM OPUNTIA FICUS-INDICA IN NANOTECHNOLOGY: BIOSYNTHESIS OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES AND APPLICATIONS

VILLALBA, GF; FERREYRA MAILLARD, APV; GALLUCCI, MN; DALMASSO, PR; NAZARENO, MA

Congreso; IX International Congress on Cactus Pear and Cochineal; 2017

Nowadays, significant progress is made worldwide to scientifically demonstrate the functional and medicinal properties of cactus. Thus, cacti are considered an important source ofbioactive substances and excellent candidates for food and pharmaceutical industries. The synthesis of nanoparticles of noble metals has received great interest today due to itsmultiple applications in the areas of medicine, technology and environmental sciences. Traditionally, monodisperse silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been synthesized via physicaland chemical procedures that often use toxic materials. Recently, biosynthetic methods using microorganisms or plant extracts have emerged as an attractive alternative based onan environment-friendly green chemistry. Thus, a simple, economic and efficient eco-friendly method for the biosynthesis of stable AgNPs using Opuntia ficus-indica cladode or fruitextracts is presented. Different reaction parameters (concentration of plant extract, substrate concentration, pH, temperature and reaction time) were optimized to synthesize AgNPs.The synthesis was confirmed by UV-vis spectroscopy and nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy displaying spherical and pseudosphericalmorphology. The in vitro antimicrobial efficacy of AgNPs was evaluated against representative Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.