N. Lagopati, M.-A. Gatou, A. Gogou, E.A. Pavlatou
United Journal of Nanotechnology and Pharmaceutics (2021), 1 (1), 1-7
During the last few decades, the utilization of nanotechnology is exponentially increasing in biomedical engineering applications, such as antibiotics, antimicrobial agents, and anticancer therapies. It is known that a large number of diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms originate from the fact that these pathogens have developed resistance in commercially available drugs. Thus, the development of novel, effective, non-toxic, and low-cost therapy for better treatment of diseases is imperative. Nanoparticles based on metals and metal oxides have emerged as a promising means of therapy due to their exceptional properties. Among these nanoparticles, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have drawn significant attention owing to their eminent biomedical properties. A variety of physical as well as chemical methods is utilized for the ZnO NPs synthesis. However, many of them include the use of hazardous reagents or are energy-consuming. For this reason, green methods are proposed to synthesize ZnO NPs using biological substrates. These methods possess significant benefits, as the extracts contribute positively to the formation and improvement of the antimicrobial activity of ZnO NPs, also acting as reducing and stabilizing agents. In this review, an integrated approach of ZnO NPs bio-synthetic techniques using microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi and algae, plants and plant extracts, is discussed, shedding light on their comparative advantages.