**10. Conclusion**

Silver and Zinc NPs have the ability to interact with and influence the growth of a variety of microorganisms. Therefore, Ag and Zn NPs could be employed as a broad-spectrum antibiotic agents to combat bacterial infections. Plant extracts are used to make Ag and Zn NPs, which is cost-effective and eco-friendly. The antibacterial action of Ag and Zn NPs appears to be attributed to their structure, ultrasmall size, and increased surface area, which allows them to damage and pass the bacterial membrane that is responsible for intracellular damage. It has been described that NPs in combination with antibiotics can be a promising strategy to overcome bacterial resistance. Synthesis of Ag and Zn NPs via green-synthesis methods and mechanisms of action against bacteria have been elucidated. We have also shed light on toxicity associated with the use of NPs. Ultimately, it can be conluded that both Ag and Zn sNP have broad-spectrum antibiotic activity against bacteria, making them prospective therapeutic agents for bacterial infections and multidrugresistant pathogens.

**167**

**Author details**

Puducherry, India

Gulzar Ahmed Rather1

Heshu Sulaiman Rahman<sup>5</sup>

(ICMR), New Delhi, India

Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Technology, Tamil Nadu, India

*Antimicrobial Efficacy of Biogenic Silver and Zinc Nanocrystals/Nanoparticles to Combat…*

\*, Saqib Hassan2,3, Surajit Pal2

1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sathyabama Institute of Science and

2 Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University,

3 Division of Non-Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research

4 School of Life Sciences, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and

5 Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani

6 Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

and Johra Khan6

Technology, Deemed to be University, Tamil Nadu, India

Sciences, Majmah University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: rathergulzar5@gmail.com

, Mohd Hashim Khan4

,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99200*

*Antimicrobial Efficacy of Biogenic Silver and Zinc Nanocrystals/Nanoparticles to Combat… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99200*
