1.1 Urinary Tract infections and its agents:
Several different parts such as Urethra, bladder, ureters etc., together comprise the Urinary system. Infection in any part of the Urinary system is considered as Urinary tract infections (UTIs) and it is mainly caused by the several different types of bacteria.
Compared to men, women are having the higher possibility rate to have UTI in their lifetime. The signs and symptoms of UTI may vary based on the particular part of the organ where the microorganism affected. This UTI is commonly occurs through the urethra where the bacteria enters and starts multiplies.
There are number are risk factors are related to this infection especially in women such as urinary tract blockage, menopause, birth control abnormalities. The bacteria E.coli from the humans large intestine enters in to urethra from the anus which initiates the infection by multiplying the numbers from there, the microorganisms can travel up to the bladder, and if the infection isn’t treated, continue on to infect the kidneys. Women maybe especially susceptible to UTIs because they need shorter urethras, which permit bacteria quick access to the bladder
1.2 Medicinal Plants:
Plants have been an exemplary source of medicine for thousands of years. India is that the largest producer of medicinal plants and is rightly called the “Botanical garden of the world”.
Mimosa pudica L. belongs to the family Mimosaceae. Mimosa pudica may be a creeping annual or perennial herb often grown for its curiosity value, because the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touches and reopen within a minutes. Mimosa pudica is native to Brazil, but is now a pan tropical weed [1]. It is derived from the word “mimic” means to sensitivity of leaves and “pudica” means bashful, retiring or shrinking. Mimosa mimics the animal sensitivity that is sensitivity to light; time of day, gravity or like sun drew drosera which reacts to the contact of insects [2]. So Mimosa is understood as sensitive plant, sensitive plant, sensitive plant, sleeping grass, touch me not, Lajjalu in Ayurveda and Namaskari in Sanskrit [3]. It has reddish brown woody stems and pinkish flowers. It mainly contains tannins, steroids, triterpenes, alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, c-glycoside [4]. This plant leaves and roots are used in the treatment of piles and fistula. This plant is also used in the treatment of sore gum and is used as blood purifier [5].
In Ayurvedic and Unani system of medicine, this plant has been used in disease arising from corrupted blood, bile, fever, piles, jaundice, leprosy, ulcers, and small pox.[6]. In this present study, antimicrobial activity of Mimosa pudica against some microbes responsible for UTIs can be determined. Mimosa pudica is additionally referred to as chuimui [7] or lajwanti in hindi due to its unique property to droop or collapse when touched and exposes a couple of minutes later. Its other names are Betguen Sosa (Guam), Memege (Niue), Mechiuaiu (Palau), Limemeihr (Pohnpei), Ra Kau Pikikaa (Cook Islands).
The Chinese name for this plant translates to "shyness grass". [8] Its Sinhala name is Nidikumba, where 'nidi' means 'sleep'. Its Tamil name is Thottal Sinungi, where 'Thottal' means 'touched' and 'Sinungi' means 'little cry'. Other common names include Makahiya (Philippines, with maka- meaning "quite" or "tendency to be", and -hiya meaning "shy", or "shyness"), Mori Vivi (West Indies).
In Urdu it is known as Chui-Mui. In Bengali, this is often referred to as 'Lojjaboti', the shy virgin. In Indonesia, it's referred to as Putri Malu (Shy Princess). In Myanmar (Burma) it's called 'Hti Ka Yoan' which suggests "crumbles when touched".
It has been described as “sparshaat sankochataam yaati punashcha prasruta bhavet” -a plant which folds itself when touched and spreads its leaves once more after a short time.
Scientific Classification
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Fabales
Family : Fabaceae
Subfamily : Mimosoideae
Genus : Mimosa
Species : M.pudica
Mimosa pudica is native to South America and Central America. It is considered an invasive species in Tanzania, South Asia, South East Asia and lots of Pacific Islands. [8] It is a declared weed in the Northern Territory. [9] Control is recommended in Queensland. [10]
It has also been introduced to Nigeria, Seychelles, Mauritius and East Asia but is not regarded as invasive in those places [8].
1.3 Nano-particles
In general nanoparticles are considering a discovery of modern science. Nanoparticles were employed by artisans as far back because the ninth century for generating glittering effect on the surface of pots.
Nanoparticles have one dimension that measures 100 nanometers or less. The properties of the many conventional materials changed when formed from nanoparticles. This is typically because nanoparticles have greater surface area as per weight than larger particles which causes them to be more reactive to some other molecules.
A nanoparticle may be a small object that behaves as an entire unit in terms of its transport and properties. In terms of diameter, fine particles covers a range between 100 and 2500 nanometers. Nanoparticles may or might not exhibit size related properties that differs significantly from those observed in fine particle or bulk materials. Although the size of most molecules would fit into the above outline, individual molecules are usually not mentioned as nanoparticles.
The surface change of protein filled nanoparticles has been shown to affect the ability of the nanoparticle to stimulate immune response. Researchers are thinking that these nanoparticles could also be utilized in inhalable vaccines.
Nanoparticle research is currently the foremost studied branch of science with the quantity of uses of nanoparticles in various fields. The particles have wide variety of applications in biomedical, optical and electronic fields.
In this study silver nanoparticles are synthesized because it has various and important applications. Silver has been known to possess a disinfectant effect and has been found in applications starting from traditional medicines to culinary items. It has been reported that silver nanoparticles are non-toxic to humans and most effective against bacteria, viruses and other eukaryotic micro-organisms at low concentrations without side effects.
1.4 Antibacterial activity of plant extract and Nanoparticle in Mimosa pudica:
M. pudica contains Mimosine [10], which is a toxic alkaloid. Adrenalin like substance has been identified within the extract of its leaves. Some workers have reported the presence of Crocetin dimethyl Easter within the extract of the plant. Roots contain tannin up to 10 per cent. Seeds contain a mucilage which consists of D-xylose and d-glucuronic acid.
The plant extract contains green yellow fixed oil up to 17 per cent. The plant is reported to contain tubuline and a replacement class phytohormone turgorines is found to move within the plant.
The periodic leaf movement factors are reportedly the derivatives of 4-α-(b-D-glucopyranosyl-6-sulphate) acid. The preliminary photochemical screening of the M.pudica leaf extract showed the presence of bioactive components such as terpenoids, flavonoids, glycosides, alkaloids, quinines, phenols, tannins, saponins, and coumarins. [11]
Ayurveda has declared that its root is bitter, acrid, cooling, vulnerary, alexipharmic, and utilized in the treatment of leprosy, dysentery, vaginal and uterine complaints, inflammations, burning sensation, asthma, leucoderma, and fatigue and blood diseases.
Nanoparticles are toxic to pathogens, the mechanism is nanoparticles are able to attach to the membrane of the bacteria by electrostatic interaction and disturbs the integrity of bacterial membrane. Nano-toxicity is generally triggered by the induction of oxidative stress, through this the nanoparticle obtain antibacterial effect.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 NANOTECHNOLOGY USED IN HERBAL MEDICINE
Nanotechnology is one of the most active emerging research areas in modern sciences. Nanotechnology is that the production, manipulation and application of materials with size starting from but a micron thereto of individual atoms.
Nanomaterials are synthesized chemically but now it is possible by using biological materials. Nanoparticles of biological origin are of great interest due to their unusual properties and activities. Bio-based nanoparticles can be used as novel pesticides, drug carriers, etc [12]
The plant based nanoparticles have following advantages: Offers numerous benefits of eco-friendliness and compatibility for pharmaceutical and other bio-medical applications.
Cost effective, environment friendly, easily scaled up for giant scale synthesis. Silver has been recognized as having inhibitory effect on microbes present in medical and process. Silver nanoparticle can be used as a topical ointment to prevent infection against burn and open wounds.
The development of reliable green process for the synthesis of nanoparticles is a crucial aspect of current nanotechnology research. Nanoparticle plays an indispensable role in drug delivery, diagnostics, imaging, sensing, gene delivery, artificial implants, and tissue engineering [13].
Biological methods for nanoparticle synthesis using microorganism, enzymes, and plants or plant extracts have been suggested as possible eco-friendly alternatives to chemical and physical methods [14].
2.2 PLANT EXTRACTS USED FOR URINARY TRACT INFECTION:
Plant produce a good sort of secondary metabolite which is employed either directly as precursors or as lead compounds within the pharmaceutical industry and it's expected that extracts showing target sites other than those used by antibiotics will be active against drug resistant microbial activities.
The medicinal properties of several herbal plants and their preparation have been documented in ancient Indian literature and found to be effective in treatment of numerous diseases [15].
Six plants (Coriander sativum, Syzgium aromaticum, cassia, common ginger, Terminalia chebula and Azadirachta indica) and their parts were wont to evaluate the antibacterial activity [16].
The antibacterial activity of aqueous, ethanol, ethyl acetate, methanol, Petroleum ether, Chloroform, Extracts of Biophythm sensitivum or mukkutty (whole plant was used), Nutmeg (nut of jathikai was used), Aerva Lanata or cheroola (whole plant was used) and Boerrhavia Difffusa or thazhuthama (leaves were used) was determined against 5 UTI isolates. i.e. Escherechia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, streptococci viridians, by disc diffusion method.
Antimicrobial activity of Mimosa pudica was tested with various extracts such as petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, acetone and aqueous against various human pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeuroginosa, Lactobacillus, Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus also with plant pathogenic fungus such as Pestalotia foedians, Fusarium oxysporum and Paecilo mycesvariotii at different concentrations [17].
2.3 PLANT BASED NANOPARTICLES:
Synthesis of nanoparticles is straight forward, efficient, and eco-friendly as compared to chemical-mediated or microbe- mediated synthesis. The chemical synthesis involves toxic solvents, high, energy and heat conversion and microbe involved synthesis isn't feasible industrially thanks to its lab maintenance. Since, green synthesis is that the best choice to choose the synthesis of nanoparticles, therefore the nanoparticles was synthesized by using aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera and metal ions (such as silver). Silver was of particular interest due to its distinctive physical and chemical properties [18].
Researchers within the field of nanotechnology are finding that metal nanoparticles have all types of previously unexpected benefits. They are usually prepared from noble metals, that is, silver, gold, platinum and palladium while silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) being most exploited [19], because of its wider range of applications.
Though biological method is usually adopted for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles, use of plant extracts is widely studied thanks to its advantages over others. Among different plants, the leaves of Mimosa pudica had shown to exhibit various medicinal properties such as anti-diabetic [20], anti- allergic [21], anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer activity [22]. However, silver nanoparticles synthesized from M. pudica have been assayed for anti-parasitic effect.