A
new paper, with a contribution from Tim Sandle, has been published looking into
a novel application of silver as an antimicrobial.
Silver
is a potent antimicrobial agent against a variety of microorganisms and once
the element has entered the bacterial cell, it accumulates as silver
nanoparticles with large surface area causing cell death. At the same time, the
bacterial cell becomes a reservoir for silver. This study aims to test the microcidal
effect of silver-killed E. coli O104: H4 and its supernatant against
fresh viable cells of the same bacterium and some other species, including E.
coli O157: H7, Multidrug Resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa and
Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Silver-killed
bacteria were examined by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Agar well
diffusion assay was used to test the antimicrobial efficacy and durability of
both pellet suspension and supernatant of silver-killed E. coli O104:H4 against
other bacteria. Both silver-killed bacteria and supernatant showed prolonged
antimicrobial activity against the tested strains that extended to 40 days.
The
presence of adsorbed silver nanoparticles on the bacterial cell and inside the cells
was verified by TEM. Silver-killed bacteria serve as an efficient sustained
release reservoir for exporting the lethal silver cations. This promotes its
use as a powerful disinfectant for polluted water and as an effective
antibacterial which can be included in wound and burn dressings to overcome the
problem of wound contamination.
The reference is:
Mohamed,
D. S., El-Baky, R.M.A, Sandle, T., Mandour, S. A. and Ahmed, E. F. (2020)
Antimicrobial Activity of Silver-Treated Bacteria against other Multi-Drug
Resistant Pathogens in Their Environment,
Antibiotics, 9 (4),181: https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9040181
Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)
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