AN IN-SILICO AND IN-VITRO APPROACH TO COMBAT MICROBIAL THREATS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES: NANOPARTICLES AND PHYTOCHEMICALS OF WITHANIA SOMNIFERA

Abstract

For a long time, plants with healing powers have helped keep us healthy, and also still see their impact on modern medicine. Withania somnifera is one of these plants, also called Ashwagandha or Indian ginseng. It is a popular choice because it is good in many ways -Anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting, and protective properties are provided to the body by these phenolics, terpenoids, alkaloids, and glycosides present in ashwagandha products. Ashwagandha’s bio-actives, such as Withanolides and sitoindosides, provide much promise for fighting cancer and reducing stress, as well as preserving the brain. It is used to synthesize eco-friendly zinc nanoparticles (ZnNPs) as well. On UV-Vis spectrophotometer, ZnNPs shows peak at 222 nm with corresponding absorbance of 4.4 AU. Microbial-killing nanoparticles; are used in various fields for degrading dangerous dyes; for example, eosin. Investing by the Petri Plate agar diffusion method showed that ZnNPs can inhibit bacteria growth like Bacillus clausii. This study investigated the presence of an inhibition zone around the ZnNPs. They also destroy organic pollution via a process called photocatalysis. With the passes of time, the color of the dye became light or disappeared which confirms the effects of ZnNPs on dye degradation. Moreover, phytochemicals found in Ashwagandha have the power to help against a virus named human adenovirus, which causes various illnesses in the human body like cold, stomach flu infections and also causes inflammation in the brain and spinal cord which is most common in people whose immune system is not strong enough. This study identified substances such as Viscosalactone B and Somniferine with -10.4 kcal/mol and -9.9 kcal/mol docking score that exhibit their potential for drugs against the virus through an in-silico approach called Molecular Docking which aims to study the capacity of pHytochemicals to interact with crucial proteins. The result of this study shows that phytochemicals derived from ashwagandha have a strong binding affinity for proteins that are important in the context of Human Adenovirus and suggest a favorable outlook for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.