Silver nanoparticle (AgNp) applicationseffects on antioxidant and antimicrobial activity in the shoot cultures of Pistacia lentiscus L.

In this study, shoots obtained from in vitro germinated seeds of Pistacia lentiscus L. (Mastic tree) were grown in MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/l Benzyladenine (BA) and 0.5 mg/l Gibberellic acid (GA3). A protocol has been developed that contains the necessary basic information about how different Ag nanoparticle (NP) concentration applications affect some growth parameters and biological activity capacities. Firstly, Ag nanoparticles at three different concentrations (1, 2 and 4 mg/l) were added to the axenic shoots of mastic seedlings germinated in vitro, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity tests were applied. The effects of AgNP applications on seed germination, some physiological growth parameters and secondary metabolite content were tested. In general, it was determined that AgNP applications caused an increase in both the amount of phenolic and flavonoid substances and in terms of antioxidant and antimicrobial activity compared to the control group. Among all tested parameters, the highest total phenolic content was obtained from 1 mg/l AgNP with 67.63±0.014 μg/mg, and the highest total flavonoid content was obtained from the application of 2 mg/l AgNP with 18.53±0.006 μg/mg. Furthermore, it was determined that 1 mg/l AgNP application had higher antioxidant activity (DPPH, ABTS and CUPRAC) results than other AgNP applications. In terms of antimicrobial activity, it was determined that 1 mg/l AgNP application showed moderate activity against Candida albicans (ATCC 10231) fungus and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) bacterial strains and low activity against Bacillus cereus (DSSM 4312) bacterial strains the tested parameters.