Graphene Oxide (GO): A Promising Nanomaterial against Infectious Diseases Caused by Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria

Abstract

Infectious diseases are major threat due to it being the main cause of enormous morbidity and mortality in the world. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria put an additional burden of infection leading to inferior treatment by the antibiotics of the latest generations. The emergence and spread of MDR bacteria (so-called “superbugs”), due to mutations in the bacteria and overuse of antibiotics, should be considered a serious concern. Recently, the rapid advancement of nanoscience and nanotechnology has produced several antimicrobial nanoparticles. It has been suggested that nanoparticles rely on very different mechanisms of antibacterial activity when compared to antibiotics. Graphene-based nanomaterials are fast emerging as “two-dimensional wonder materials” due to their unique structure and excellent mechanical, optical and electrical properties and have been exploited in electronics and other fields. Emerging trends show that their exceptional properties can be exploited for biomedical applications, especially in drug delivery and tissue engineering. Moreover, graphene derivatives were found to have in vitro antibacterial properties. In the recent years, there have been many studies demonstrating the antibacterial effects of GO on various types of bacteria. In this review article, we will be focusing on the aforementioned studies, focusing on the mechanisms, difference between the studies, limitations and future directions.

Water Challenges in South Asian Countries: A Focused Review on Emerging Nanomaterials and Technological Processes in Wastewater Treatment

“…(a) Schematic showing antibacterial mechanism of GO. Reprinted with permission from ref . Copyright 2022, MDPI, (no changes).…”

“…77,78 The oxidative nature and sharp edges of GO destroy the cell membrane and disrupt its integrity as schematically shown in Figure 4(a). 78,79 Additionally, it is demonstrated that TiO 2 NPs are also extensively researched for antibacterial activity. 33,80 The GO and TiO 2 NPs both generate ROS, which are efficient killers of the majority of bacteria.…”

Recent advances and mechanism of antimicrobial efficacy of graphene-based materials: a review

“…Large-sized G has strong adsorption potential owing to greater surface energy which leads to the adsorption of the large number of microbial cells on the surface and hence more bacterial cells to be killed [ 34 ]. Furthermore, GO with reduced size displayed strong antibacterial activity in coatings [ 35 , 36 ]. This was predominantly due to the higher number of defects in small-sized sheets that further leads to oxidative-stress-mediated cell death.…”

Plasma-Derived Fibrin Hydrogels Containing Graphene Oxide for Infections Treatment

“…As a proof of concept, the bactericidal abilities of these plasma-derived hydrogels containing graphene-related materials were tested. Different mechanisms concerning the bactericidal effect of graphene-based nanomaterials have been proposed in the literature, ,− which can be summarized in (i) nanoblade effect (membrane cutting and leakage of intracellular components), (ii) wrapping (bacteria wrapped by nanosheets), and (iii) oxidative stress induction (membrane damage via generation of reactive oxygen species). However, as already discussed in the previous sections, GO remains inside the plasma-derived hydrogels, most probably due to its interaction with fibrin polymer chains and its role as a cross-linker agent taking part of the hydrogel structure.…”