Silver Nanoparticles: Therapeutical Uses, Toxicity, and Safety Issues

Nanomedicine opened new horizons for metal nanoparticles to treat multi-drug resistant organisms

“…(22,35) As a consequence, the physical, chemical and biological properties are markedly different from those of the bulk material of origin. Several mechanisms of action of NPs and antibiofilms activities have been proposed by different authors, and the most corroborated are described below (4,19).…”

“…Elevated levels of metals ions inside a cell cause oxidative stress and the generation of hydrogen peroxide, causing oxidative damage to cells, decline in the membrane integrity of microbes, leading to leakage of specific essential cell nutrients, this leads to desiccation and subsequent cell death. Also nanoparticles can bind to protin, and this binding leads to loss-of-function of the protein, and/or breakdown of the protein into nonfunctional portions (19,86).NPs were considered, in recent years, particularly attractive for the production of a new class of antimicrobials (4,18,25) opening up a completely new way to combat a wide range of bacterial pathogens. Although the highly antibacterial effect of NPs has been widely described, their mechanism of action is yet to be fully elucidated.…”

“…Increasing hospital and community-acquired infections due to bacterial multidrugresistant (MDR) pathogens for which current antibiotic therapies are not effective represent a growing problem. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the major threats to human health (1), since it determines an increase of morbidity and mortality as a consequence of the most common bacterial diseases (2).Resistance genes have recently emerged favoured by improper use of antibiotics (3,4)hence, the first step in combating resistance envisions the reduction of antibiotic consumption (5). Antimicrobial resistance is a complex mechanism whose etiology depends on the individual, the bacterial strains and resistance mechanisms that are developed (6).…”

“…To address the problem of resistance, it will be necessary to change the protocols of use of antimicrobials so that these drugs are administered only when all other treatment options have failed (4), and joint efforts of governments and academic networks are needed to fight against the globally spreading of multidrug resistant pathogens. Today, there is aneed to seek alternative treatments (9).…”

“…Today, there is aneed to seek alternative treatments (9). Non-traditional antibacterial agents are thus of great interest to overcome resistance that develops from several pathogenic microorganisms against most of the commonly used antibiotics (4). Nanotechnology offers unique approaches to control a wide variety of biological and medical processes that occur at nanometer length, and it is believed to have a successful impact on biology and medicine.…”