Novel insights into the role of zinc oxide nanoparticles in enhancing the antibacterial properties of artificial eyes

Globally, many people are candidates in need of artificial eyes for restoring natural eye structure in cases of eye loss. Regrettably, microbial invasion and biofilm formation on ocular prosthesis (OP) pose a serious challenge in developing successful preventive care strategies for ophthalmologists, optometrists, and other medical staff. Our study aims to improve antimicrobial properties of the acrylic resin artificial eye by: (a) reinforcing different concentration of ZnONPs (10, 20, 30 wt%) to polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and a preliminary assessment of their impact against methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at 1, 2, and 3 h exposure time intervals; (b) selecting the most effective time and performing a detailed investigation on the ZnONPs-artificial eye and; (c) adjusting the coating method to evaluate whether ZnONPs addition to artificial eye during thermopolymerization or immersed of OP in ZnONPs suspension has the best antibacterial action. Furthermore, integration of colony-forming units (CFU) and growth kinetic analysis has been carried out to provide a comprehensive understanding of MRSA responses to nanoscale ZnONPs particles. The performance of ZnONPs on bacterial growth kinetics has also been studied by using theoretical Logistic and Gompertz models. Our results indicated that ZnONPs exhibited antibacterial defense against MRSA based on a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, which was followed by a Tukey test ( $$p$$ < 0.0001). Besides, the Gompertz model achieved the best fit for defining the microbial growth journey. Conclusively, the use of zinc oxide nanoparticles made the MRSA growth rate slower over time and lowered the number of colonies that are still alive. Alongside, ZnONPs-PMMA nanocomposites appeared to be more effective and stable when compared to ZnONPs-soaked artificial eyes.