Highly selective antibacterial activities of silver nanoparticles against Bacillus subtilis.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with different sizes (5, 15 and 55 nm) were synthesized via simple method, and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis). The antibacterial activities of the prepared AgNPs against Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli), Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) were evaluated by inhibition zone, inhibition curve, and colony counting methods. The results showed that the AgNPs exhibited obvious bacterium-selective and size-dependent antibacterial activities. The Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus and B. subtilis were more sensitive to AgNPs than Gram-negative bacterium E. coli. Interestingly, AgNPs displayed remarkably antibacterial activities against B. subtilis among Gram-positive bacteria, regardless of whether in separately or cocultured bacteria. It also showed that AgNPs with 5 nm in size presented the highest antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The effects of AgNPs on the membrane leakage of the reducing sugars from three bacteria were also measured by 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid method. The leakage amount of reducing sugars from B. subtilis was the highest among the tested bacteria, indicating that AgNPs could damage the structure of bacteria cell membrane and resulted in the leakage of reducing sugars, leading to the death of bacteria.

Size-dependent antibacterial activities of silver nanoparticles against oral anaerobic pathogenic bacteria.

Dental caries and periodontal disease are widespread diseases for which microorganism infections have been identified as the main etiology. Silver nanoparticles (Ag Nps) were considered as potential control oral bacteria infection agent due to its excellent antimicrobial activity and non acute toxic effects on human cells. In this work, stable Ag Nps with different sizes (~5, 15 and 55 nm mean values) were synthesized by using a simple reduction method or hydrothermal method. The Nps were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The antibacterial activities were evaluated by colony counting assay and growth inhibition curve method, and corresponding minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against five anaerobic oral pathogenic bacteria and aerobic bacteria E. coli were determined. The results showed that Ag Nps had apparent antibacterial effects against the anaerobic oral pathogenic bacteria and aerobic bacteria. The MIC values of 5-nm Ag against anaerobic oral pathogenic bacteria A. actinomycetemcomitans, F. nuceatum, S. mitis, S. mutans and S. sanguis were 25, 25, 25, 50 and 50 µg/mL, respectively. The aerobic bacteria were more susceptible to Ag NPs than the anaerobic oral pathogenic bacteria. In the mean time, Ag NPs displayed an obvious size-dependent antibacterial activity against the anaerobic bacteria. The 5-nm Ag presents the highest antibacterial activity. The results of this work indicated a potential application of Ag Nps in the inhibition of oral microorganism infections.