In a new study, scientists at the University of Florida have found (Silver nanoparticles show promise in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria) that a combination of silver nanoparticles and antibiotics are effective against drug-resistant bacteria.
The researchers hope to translate this discovery into a suitable treatment for some types of drug-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance kills more than a million people worldwide every year.
For centuries, silver has been known for its antibacterial properties. However, silver nanoparticles – microscopic spheres of silver too small to work at the cellular level – represent a new frontier in the use of precious metals to fight bacteria.
In this study, the research team tested whether commercially available silver nanoparticles enhance the effectiveness of antibiotics and make these drugs more resistant to bacteria that have developed resistance to them.
“We discovered that silver nanoparticles interact with a class of antibiotics called aminoglycosides,” said Daniel Czyż, who led the study and is an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Cellular Science at UF. / IFAS said.
“When combined with a small amount of silver nanoparticles, the number of antibiotics needed to prevent bacteria is reduced 22 times, which tells us that the nanoparticles make the medicine stronger,” explained Czyż. “In addition, aminoglycosides can have negative side effects, so the use of silver nanoparticles can allow for lower doses of antibiotics, thus reducing these side effects.”
The results were unexpected and exciting, said Autumn Dove, the study’s first author and a doctoral student studying microbiology and cell science in the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
“When I first saw the results, my first thought was, ‘Wow, this is working,'” Dove said.
In recent decades, the overuse of antibiotics has led to drug-resistant bacteria and reduced effectiveness of traditional antibiotics, the researchers said. The results of the study show that silver nanoparticles can improve the production of some of these new drugs.
“Let’s say you burn your hand so badly that it infects one of these resistant strains of bacteria,” Dove said. “It is possible that a burn bandage with a combination of silver nanoparticles and antibiotics can eliminate this disease and prevent these resistant bacteria from spreading elsewhere.”
Although antibiotics usually kill bacteria, they can also damage human and animal cells. Using a visual worm called C. elegans, the researchers confirmed that silver nanoparticles also did not cause the antibiotic to kill non-bacterial cells.
