A Review of the Antibacterial, Fungicidal and Antiviral Properties of Selenium Nanoparticles

Abstract

The resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobial drugs is an important problem worldwide. To solve this problem, active searches for antimicrobial components, approaches and therapies are being carried out. Selenium nanoparticles have high potential for antimicrobial activity. The relevance of their application is indisputable, which can be noted due to the significant increase in publications on the topic over the past decade. This review of research publications aims to provide the reader with up-to-date information on the antimicrobial properties of selenium nanoparticles, including susceptible microorganisms, the mechanisms of action of nanoparticles on bacteria and the effect of nanoparticle properties on their antimicrobial activity. This review describes the most complete information on the antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal effects of selenium nanoparticles.

Keywords: SeNPs; antibiotic resistance; antimicrobial activity; cytotoxicity to eukaryotic cells; mechanisms of antibacterial action.

Figure 1

Distribution by year of the publications available in the PubMed database by search keywords ‘selenium nanoparticles antimicrobial activity’ (222 articles); ‘selenium nanoparticles antibacterial activity’ (147 articles); ‘selenium nanoparticles antifungal activity’ (34 articles); ‘selenium nanoparticles antiviral activity’ (25 articles).

Figure 2

Possible commercial products based on SeNPs (References are given in the text).

Figure 3

General approaches to SeNPs synthesis (references are given in the text).

Figure 4

Influence of methods for selenium nanoparticle synthesis on the size and antibacterial properties of nanoparticles: (a) The ratio of the use of various methods for selenium nanoparticle synthesis according to the literature; (b) Size distribution of selenium nanoparticles for different types of synthesis; (c) Distribution of values of the minimum inhibitory concentration of selenium nanoparticles in different types of synthesis. Each symbol means the MIC value taken from a separate publication. Colors correspond to synthesis methods: orange crosses—laser ablation, blue triangles—microwave method, cyan triangles—chemical reduction, green squares—biological reduction, orange triangles—gamma irradiation.

Figure 5

Dependence of the selenium nanoparticles’ effective concentration on their size in the study of antiviral activity (all results presented in the graph use selenium nanoparticles synthesized with the chemical reduction method). Each symbol means the MIC value taken from a separate publication. Colors correspond to type of susceptible microorganisms: red circles—antiviral activity. The green straight is the trend line. Data from Table 2 were used in Figure 4 and Figure 5.

Figure 6

Antibacterial action of selenium nanoparticles. (a) Distribution of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of selenium nanoparticles for the three most common studied species of bacteria: B. subtilis (orange triangles), S. aureus (purple triangles), E. coli (green circles); (b–d) Dependence of the minimum inhibitory concentration of selenium nanoparticles on their size for the study of antibacterial activity: against B. subtilis (MIC values are blue circles, trend line is orange)—(b); S. aureus (MIC values are orange circles, trend line is purple)—(c); and E. coli bacteria (MIC values are red circles, trend line is green)—(d). Each symbol means the MIC value taken from a separate publication. Data from Table 2 were used in this figure.

Figure 7

Dependence of the minimum inhibitory concentration of selenium nanoparticles on their size in the study of antifungal activity. Preparations of nanoparticles synthesized using gamma irradiation are marked in blue, purple—using the method of laser ablation in a liquid, pink—using biosynthesis.

Figure 8

Mechanisms of SeNPs’ antibacterial (a), antifungal (b) and antiviral (c) actions. Effect of SeNP functionalization on antibacterial activity of SeNPs (d). The arrows show the causal relationship of events. Red and black arrows indicate effects on microorganisms. Green arrows show effects on eukaryotic cells.

Figure 8

Mechanisms of SeNPs’ antibacterial (a), antifungal (b) and antiviral (c) actions. Effect of SeNP functionalization on antibacterial activity of SeNPs (d). The arrows show the causal relationship of events. Red and black arrows indicate effects on microorganisms. Green arrows show effects on eukaryotic cells.