LAUSR

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-np) on initiation adhesion and agglutinin-like sequence (ALS) 1 and ALS3 gene expression, which is the first cell surface protein known to be, required for biofilm formation in 125 Candida albicans (C. albicans) from urinary tract infections (UTIs).MethodsIn this descriptive-analytic study, Candida UTIs was cultured from 280 women admitted in hospital Sayad Shirazi, in Northeastern Iran in the 2018 year. 125 (44.62%) of C. albicans strains were identified by phenotypic and genotypic methods. Susceptibility testing C. albicans strains were determined by the disk diffusion method. ZnO-np with 20–40 nm diameters were prepared, there were confirmed by the X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope methods.Results115 susceptible C. albicans and 10 fluconazole-resistant C. albicans strain from UTIs were exposed to sub-minimum inhibitory concentration (Sub-MIC) of ZnO-np (range 0.02–18.1 μg/ml). Expression of the ALS1 and ALS3 genes which are affected by adhesion was evaluated by real-time PCR. One-way ANOVA test statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 16.0. The MIC range of ZnO-np was 0.05–296 µg/ml. Sub-MIC concentration ZnO-np initial adhesion inhibition, and significantly reduced ALS1 and ALS3 gene expression was observed in all strains (P < 0.05). The finding indicated that ZnO-np is effective in reduction of ALS1 and ALS3 expression in fluconazole-resistant strains.ConclusionsTherefore, ZnO-np could be a candidate in the elimination of biofilm C. albicans strains from UTIs in medicine, particularly in medical instruments.