Nanobullets

Could we shoot down bacteria POINT BLANK? 

 This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.

Sickness just hits ya all at once, doesn’t it? That’s because bacteria quickly multiplies once it’s inside us. AND, they’re growing resistant to antibiotics. How can we catch up?

 Autumn Dove and team at the University of Florida think they have a SILVER bullet. Literally. Tiny silver particles. Silver has similar properties to antibiotics. In fact, it was used as an antibacterial centuries ago. The researchers examined whether silver could effectively kill the RESISTANT bacteria.

These silver “bullets” had a showdown with two batches of infectious bacteria. One group was resistant to current antibiotics. The other wasn’t. How’d it go? Even at low levels, the silver nanoparticles wiped out the antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And when current antibiotics were combined with a shot of nanoparticles, their effectiveness jumped twenty-two fold!

The researchers believe silver nanoparticles could return as effective therapy against bacteria. Plus they’re non-toxic!

Time to say, sayonara salmonella!


Reference:

Dove, A.S., Dzurny D.I., Dees W.R. et al. Silver nanoparticles enhance the efficacy of aminoglycosides against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Front. Microbiol. 13, 1064095 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1064095