Five nanometer size highly positive silver nanoparticles are bactericidal targeting cell wall and adherent fimbriae expression.

ABSTRACT: To tackle growing antibiotic resistance (AR) and hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), novel antimicrobials are warranted that are effective against HAIs and safer for human use. We hypothesize that small 5 nm size positively charged nanoparticles could specifically target bacterial cell wall and adherent fimbriae expression, serving as the next generation antibacterial agent. Herein we show highly positively charged, 5 nm amino-functionalized silver nanoparticles (NH₂-AgNPs) were bactericidal; highly negatively charged, 45 nm citrate-functionalized AgNPs (Citrate-AgNPs) were nontoxic; and Ag⁺ ions were bacteriostatic forming honeycomb-like potentially resistant phenotype, at 10 µg Ag/mL in E. coli. Further, adherent fimbriae were expressed with Citrate-AgNPs (0.5-10 µ

SUBMITTER: Pokhrel LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9039075 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature