An Updated Review on Silver Nanoparticles in Biomedicine

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) represent one of the most explored categories of nanomaterials for new and improved biomaterials and biotechnologies, with impressive use in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, anti-infective therapy and wound care, food and the textile industry. Their extensive and versatile applicability relies on the genuine and easy-tunable properties of nanosilver, including remarkable physicochemical behavior, exceptional antimicrobial efficiency, anti-inflammatory action and antitumor activity. Besides commercially available and clinically safe AgNPs-based products, a substantial number of recent studies assessed the applicability of nanosilver as therapeutic agents in augmented and alternative strategies for cancer therapy, sensing and diagnosis platforms, restorative and regenerative biomaterials. Given the beneficial interactions of AgNPs with living structures and their nontoxic effects on healthy human cells, they represent an accurate candidate for various biomedical products. In the present review, the most important and recent applications of AgNPs in biomedical products and biomedicine are considered.

Recent Advances on Antimicrobial and Anti-Inflammatory Cotton Fabrics Containing Nanostructures

“…Specially, zinc oxide nanoparticles [10] and copper(II) oxide nanoparticles [11] have been extensively studied for the obtention of antimicrobial functionalized textiles. Furthermore, silver nanoparticles are one of the most explored Molecules 2021, 26, 3008 2 of 22 nanomaterials for applications in biomedicine due to their biocompatibility and nontoxicity; they have been the subject of a recent review [12] in which their antibacterial, antiviral and antitumor activity have been highlighted together with their use in tissue engineering and wound care. Coating of textiles with chemically or physically modified silica nanosols have also been reported to provide antimicrobial activity among other properties such as hydrophobicity, oleophobicity, anti-adhesive, UV-protection [13].…”

Advanced Biomimetic Nanomaterials for Non-invasive Disease Diagnosis

“…nanoparticle surface properties, sizes, and shapes (Deshmukh et al, 2019;Lee and Jun, 2019;Padnya et al, 2020). AgNPs have been prepared in various shapes, including spheres, rods, cubes, shells, clusters, and stars (Gherasim et al, 2020). AgNPs are generally prepared via chemical reduction from relatively stable silver (I) salts using reductants, which is an easy process (Montes-García et al, 2014;Gherasim et al, 2020).…”

“…AgNPs have been prepared in various shapes, including spheres, rods, cubes, shells, clusters, and stars (Gherasim et al, 2020). AgNPs are generally prepared via chemical reduction from relatively stable silver (I) salts using reductants, which is an easy process (Montes-García et al, 2014;Gherasim et al, 2020). The stability of AgNPs in water and air can be increased through modification (Gherasim et al, 2020).…”

“…AgNPs are generally prepared via chemical reduction from relatively stable silver (I) salts using reductants, which is an easy process (Montes-García et al, 2014;Gherasim et al, 2020). The stability of AgNPs in water and air can be increased through modification (Gherasim et al, 2020). AgNPs play a vital role in the biomedical field because of their applications in imaging, sensing, diagnosis, and so on (Gherasim et al, 2020;Renu et al, 2020).…”

“…The stability of AgNPs in water and air can be increased through modification (Gherasim et al, 2020). AgNPs play a vital role in the biomedical field because of their applications in imaging, sensing, diagnosis, and so on (Gherasim et al, 2020;Renu et al, 2020). Methods based on AgNPs have the advantages of facile miniaturization, rapid analytical response, and simple operation; thus, AgNPs are a good choice for point-of-care devices in clinical application and are expected to be a research hotspot in the future (Jouyban and Rahimpour, 2020).…”