Abstract

FABRICATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL MEDICAL TEXTILES USING V.NEGUNDO LOADED NANOPARTICLE

Rajendran R, Rajalakshmi V, Radhai R*

ABSTRACT

In the present study, the Vitex negundo extract loaded nanoparticles were synthesized and their antimicrobial activity was evaluated after coating on cotton fabrics. Different organic solvents were used to extract the bioactive components from the leaves (Methanol, Ethanol, Ethyl acetate, Petroleum ether, Butyl alcohol and Chloroform) and their antimicrobial activity was determined using agar diffusion method and broth dilution method. The plant extracts showed various levels of antimicrobial activity on different test organisms and among these extracts, the ethanolic extract showed higher antimicrobial activity and was used for further nanoparticles synthesis. The nanoparticles were synthesized using cation induced controlled gellification method. The physical and chemical characterization of Vitex negundo loaded nanoparticles was done using High Resolution- Transmission Electron Microscopy and Fourier transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR). The characterized nanoparticle loaded with V.negundo leaf extract were further coated on to the cotton fabrics using pad dry cure method. The finished cotton fabrics were assessed for their antimicrobial activity using (American Association of textile chemists and colorist) AATCC 100 and AATCC 30 which showed that the activity of the nanoparticles was enhanced. Nanoparticle loaded with herbal extract possessed the antimicrobial activity until 30 washes. Finally the air permeability of the treated and untreated fabrics was analyzed. The result obtained for nanoparticle loaded with V.negundo leaf extract treated fabrics proposes that these types of antimicrobial finishes for medical textiles will protect the patients from microbial infection thereby reducing the burden through fomites.

Keywords: Vitex negundo, Antimicrobial activity, Cotton, nanoparticles.