Design and fabrication of magnetic Fe3O4-QSM nanoparticles loaded with ciprofloxacin as a potential antibacterial agent

In this investigation, we have synthesized magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) coated with quince seed mucilage (QSM) as a natural, biocompatible, and biodegradable component and loaded them with ciprofloxacin (CIP) to act as an antibacterial agent. The structural, magnetic, physicochemical, colloidal, and antibacterial properties of the samples were tested using various characterization tools such as XRD, TEM, FE-SEM, VSM, FT-IR, UV-Vis, DLS, BET, and disk diffusion for testing the antibacterial properties. XRD and VSM results confirmed the fabrication of a highly pure cubic spinel phase for Fe3O4. The results of FE-SEM and TEM analyses indicate a spherical morphology of the magnetite NPs with a mean diameter of about 13 nm, and the results of DLS show a hydrodynamic diameter of 81.9 to 119.2 nm. The zeta potential value for the magnetic Fe3O4 NPs was as high as -55.2 mV, indicating suitable colloidal stability of the NPs for biological applications. The VSM results indicate a high saturation magnetization of the samples as well as a small coercivity and Remanence of the samples, which indicate the superparamagnetic property of the NPs. It was also indicated that the amount of drug adsorbed on the magnetic nanoparticles at different pH values (5.5 to 6.5) is about 85 %. It was likewise detected that the synthesized Fe3O4@QSM-CIP NPs possess antibacterial activity against standard strains of both Gram positive and Gram-negative bacteria (minimum inhibitory concentration = 100 ppm). The overall findings imply that the proposed magnetic NPs with antibacterial activity are promising for biomedical applications.