LL37-capped silver nanoparticles have antibacterial properties including inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation, but do not affect human skin fibroblast proliferation.

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Colloidal stability of nanoparticles in biological media is an important consideration when trying to ensure reliable data interpretation of in vitro and in vivo systems. We have developed a detailed colloidal stability library of newly synthesized gold, silver and gold-core silver-shell plasmonic nanoparticles, stabilized with aspartame, glucosamine and sucralose, in various biologically relevant buffers and bacterial and mammalian cell culture media. The stabilizer selection reflects the preference for molecules that are non-toxic, inexpensive, readily available, water soluble and easy-to-replace if that is the end-user preference. An on-line resource provides detailed stability information on each of the 81 systems examined. To illustrate how to utilize this stability library, we conducted bacterial toxicity and biocompatibility experiments through the use of one specific set of nanomaterials in the presence and absence of plasmonic irradiation.

Plasmon excitation of spherical gold nanoparticles carrying a fluorescent labeled 30 bp dsDNA cargo, with one chain covalently attached through two S-Au bonds to the surface, results in release of the complementary strand as ssDNA that can be examined in situ using high-resolution fluorescence microscopy. The release is dependent on the total energy delivered, but not the rate of delivery, an important property for plasmonic applications in medicine, sensors, and plasmon-induced PCR.

This chapter reviews the state of the art applications of silver nanoparticles in the biomedical sciences and health care, and aims to provide the reader with a general, but concise picture of the basic concepts that need to be considered when using silver nanoparticles (AgNP) in biological systems. We begin with a review of basic concepts on nanomaterials for biomedical applications. In the second part, we discuss a long-standing controversy regarding the risks versus benefits for the use of AgNP in the biomedical sciences. In the last section of this chapter, we present a discussion of future challenges regarding the use of AgNP in medicine.