Dental caries and periodontal disease are widespread diseases for which microorganism infections have been identified as the main etiology. Silver nanoparticles (Ag Nps) were considered as potential control oral bacteria infection agent due to its excellent antimicrobial activity and non acute toxic effects on human cells. In this work, stable Ag Nps with different sizes (~5, 15 and 55 nm mean values) were synthesized by using a simple reduction method or hydrothermal method. The Nps were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The antibacterial activities were evaluated by colony counting assay and growth inhibition curve method, and corresponding minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against five anaerobic oral pathogenic bacteria and aerobic bacteria E. coli were determined. The results showed that Ag Nps had apparent antibacterial effects against the anaerobic oral pathogenic bacteria and aerobic bacteria. The MIC values of 5-nm Ag against anaerobic oral pathogenic bacteria A. actinomycetemcomitans, F. nuceatum, S. mitis, S. mutans and S. sanguis were 25, 25, 25, 50 and 50 μg/mL, respectively. The aerobic bacteria were more susceptible to Ag NPs than the anaerobic oral pathogenic bacteria. In the mean time, Ag NPs displayed an obvious size-dependent antibacterial activity against the anaerobic bacteria. The 5-nm Ag presents the highest antibacterial activity. The results of this work indicated a potential application of Ag Nps in the inhibition of oral microorganism infections.

A novel silver nanoparticles (AgNPs)/chitosan composite dressing with asymmetric wettability surfaces was successfully prepared via a simple two-step method for biomedical applications as wound healing materials. First, AgNPs were assembled into the chitosan sponge which was prepared by lyophilization process. Then one side of the sponge was modified by a thin layer of stearic acid. The incorporation of AgNPs into chitosan dressing could enhance the antibacterial activity against drug-sensitive and drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria. The asymmetric surface modification endows the dressing with both highly hydrophobic property and inherent hydrophilic nature of chitosan. The hydrophobic surface of the dressing shows waterproof and antiadhesion for contaminant properties, whereas the hydrophilic surface preserves its water-absorbing capability and efficiently inhibits the growth of bacteria. Furthermore, the AgNPs/chitosan composite dressing displays improved moisture retention and blood clotting ability compared to the unmodified dressings. Cytocompatibility test evaluated in vitro and in a wound infection model illustrates the nontoxic nature of the composite dressing. More importantly, the in vivo wound healing model evaluation in mice reveals that the asymmetric AgNPs/chitosan dressing promotes the wound healing and accelerates the reepithelialization and collagen deposition. The silver accumulation in mice body treated by the composite dressing is far lower than that of the clinically used Acasin nanosilver dressing treated mice. This work indicates the huge potential of the novel AgNPs/chitosan wound dressing with asymmetrical wettability for clinical use.

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Resveratrol is a natural phytoalexin with pharmacologic effects on several human diseases: carcinogenesis, coronary heart disease and neurodegenerative disease. Due to its poor water solubility, resveratrol must be bound to proteins to keep it at a high concentration in serum. In our work, the bindings of resveratrol to plasma proteins, human serum albumin (HSA) and hemoglobin (Hb), have been investigated systematically by fluorescence quenching technique, synchronous fluorescence, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and molecular modeling method. The fluorescence data show that the binding of resveratrol to HSA or Hb is a static quenching procedure and each protein has only one binding site for the drug. The binding constant of resveratrol to HSA is larger than that of resveratrol to Hb at corresponding temperature, which indicates that the affinity of HSA toward the drug is higher than that of Hb. The CD spectroscopy indicates that the secondary structures of the proteins are changed in the presence of resveratrol with the reduction of alpha-helices, which decreased about 18.75% for HSA and 9.43% for Hb at the drug to proteins molar ratio of 2. Thermodynamic analysis and molecular modeling suggest that hydrophobic interaction plays a major role in the binding of resveratrol to HSA, and hydrogen bonding is the mainly binding force in the binding of resveratrol to Hb. The study of molecular modeling shows that resveratrol is located in the hydrophobic cavity between subdomain IB and IIA of HSA (the entrance of site I), or located in the central cavity of Hb (partial to the subunit A).

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