Silver nanoparticles: mechanism of antimicrobial action, synthesis, medical applications, and toxicity effects

By S. Prabhu, Eldho K Poulose. International Nano Letters, 2012

2,204 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Silver nanoparticles are nanoparticles of silver which are in the range of 1 and 100 nm in size. Silver nanoparticles have unique properties which help in molecular diagnostics, in therapies, as well as in devices that are used in several medical procedures. The major methods used for silver nanoparticle synthesis are the physical and chemical methods. The problem with the chemical and physical methods is that the synthesis is expensive and can also have toxic substances absorbed onto them. To overcome this, the biological method provides a feasible alternative. The major biological systems involved in this are bacteria, fungi, and plant extracts. The major applications of silver nanoparticles in the medical field include diagnostic applications and therapeutic applications. In most of the therapeutic applications, it is the antimicrobial property that is being majorly explored, though the anti-inflammatory property has its fair share of applications. Though silver nanoparticles are rampantly used in many medical procedures and devices as well as in various biological fields, they have their drawbacks due to nanotoxicity. This review provides a comprehensive view on the mechanism of action, production, applications in the medical field, and the health and environmental concerns that are allegedly caused due to these nanoparticles. The focus is on effective and efficient synthesis of silver nanoparticles while exploring their various prospective applications besides trying to understand the current scenario in the debates on the toxicity concerns these nanoparticles pose.

Subfields: Biomedical Engineering, Materials Chemistry

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/61919dacbfaadb99f4bb907a4d97c0dee1a848ad

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Biomedical Engineering

1. D. Fawcett
2. Shashi Sharma
3. Monaliben Shah
4. G. Poinern
5. H. Palza

In Materials Chemistry

1. D. Fawcett
2. Shashi Sharma
3. Monaliben Shah
4. G. Poinern
5. H. Palza

Citations in the corpus

• ARTICLE; AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY Myconanoparticles: synthesis and their role in phytopathogens management (2015, neutral): “[93] Antimicrobial mechanisms of nano-metal toxicity.”
• Biosynthesis of Metal Nanoparticles: A Review (2014, neutral): “, 2012 [4]).”
• Biomedical Applications of Silver Nanoparticles: An Up-to-Date Overview (2018, background): “We included in Figure 1 distinctive mechanisms described during the interaction of AgNPs with bacterial cells [57].”
• A Review of Current Research into the Biogenic Synthesis of Metal and Metal Oxide Nanoparticles via Marine Algae and Seagrasses (2017, background): “However, using high concentrations of Ag nanoparticles can induce toxicity and as a consequence produce a variety of health problems [74].”
• Silver nanoparticles: Synthesis, medical applications and biosafety (2020, background): “The mainstream recognition of the antimicrobial mechanisms of AgNPs includes destructing bacterial cell walls, producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and damaging DNA structure [18, 19].”
• Antimicrobial Polymers with Metal Nanoparticles (2015, background): “Silver nanoparticles have the ability to anchor to the bacterial cell wall and subsequently penetrate it, causing structural changes in the cell membrane such as in permeability, and afterward cell death [22].”