Investigation of anti-bacterial activity and cytotoxicity of calcium fluoride nanoparticles

This paper details about the isolation of Calcium fluoride nanoparticles (CaF2 Nps) through facile co-precipitation method. As-obtained nanoparticles were characterized using XRD, FESEM, AFM, Zeta potential measurements, etc. Further, we evaluated the antibacterial activity of CaF2 Nps against both gram negative (Escherichia coil, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and gram positive (Bacillus badius, Staphylococcus aureus) bacterial strains. The in-vitro toxicity of CaF2 Nps to mammalian cells, normal African green monkey Chlorocebus kidney epithelial cell line (Vero) was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and characterized using phase contrast microscopy. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of these nanoparticles towards the prokaryotic micro-organisms were found to be considerably lower than many other nanoparticles and antibiotics. Further the nanoparticles were found to be nontoxic against eukaryotic normal Vero cells. The selective toxicity of CaF2 Nps to prokaryotic bacterial pathogen compared to eukaryotic cell suggests that CaF2 Nps can be used as an excellent antibacterial agent. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.