All Ag Nanoparticles Are Not the Same: Covalent Interactions between Ag Nanoparticles and Nitrile Groups Help Combat Drug- and Ag-Resistant Bacteria

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance has long been viewed as a lethal threat to global health. Despite the availability of a wide range of antibacterial medicines all around the world, organisms have evolved a resistance mechanism to these therapies. As a result, a scenario has emerged requiring the development of effective antibacterial drugs/agents. In this article, we exclusively highlight a significant finding reported by Zbořil and associates (Adv. Sci. 2021, 2003090). The authors construct a covalently bounded silver-cyanographene (GCN/Ag) with the antibacterial activity of 30 fold higher than that of free Ag ions or typical Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs). Ascribed to the strong covalent bond between nitrile and Ag, an immense cytocompatibility is shown by the GCN/Ag towards healthy human cells with a minute leaching of Ag ions. Firm interactions between the microbial membrane and the GCN/Ag are confirmed by molecular dynamics simulations, which rule out the dependence of antibacterial activity upon the Ag ions alone. Thus, this study furnishes ample scope to unfold next-generation hybrid antimicrobial drugs to confront infections arising from drug and Ag-resistant bacterial strains.

Keywords: AgNP-resistant; Antibacterial; Antibiotics; Cytocompatibility; GCN/Ag.