Susceptibility Evaluation of Aspergillus fumigatus to Silver Nanoparticles Compared with Voriconazole

Background: This study was performed to determine antifungal activity of silver nanoparticles (nano-Ag) compared to voriconazole on clinical and standard strains of Aspergillus fumigatus. Materials and Methods: Inhibitory potency of nano-Ag was determined using microtiter broth dilution method. Susceptibility tests wereperformed against A. fumigatus isolated from BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) of patients who suffered from respiratory problems andcompared with the strain (ATCC: 204305) by broth dilution antifungal susceptibility test of filamentous fungi approved by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute M38-A. In addition, cytotoxicity effect of silver nanoparticles was studied on epithelial cell line by MTT assay. Results: From 60 BAL samples the following strains were isolated; A. flavus (n=21), A. niger (n=3), and A. fumigatus (n=1). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC90) values of nano-Ag were 0.25 and 0.5