Toxicity Effects in Pathogen Microorganisms Exposed to Silver Nanoparticles

Disinfection mechanism of the photocatalytic activity of SnO2 thin films against Candida albicans, proposed from experimental and simulated perspectives

“…Specific structural damage, like cell wall rupture or cellular membrane invaginations was not observed, this could be explained by the fact that cells are being exposed to an aggressive physical disinfection method that involves UV radiation, heat and an electric current on a dry surface, which could destroy cells in a very short period of time. Reports of partial damage comes from experiments in aqueous media and by chemical inhibition of enzymes that allow a more progressive degradation of yeast cells, allowing the detection of damage in specific structures of the cells (Arzate-Quintana et al 2017).…”

“…The race between antibiotics and microorganisms stimulated research in other fields, and nanotechnology has been regarded as a different option to treat drug resistance infections. Nanomaterials have been used as therapeutic treatments due to their reported antimicrobial activity; an example of this is the use of metallic and metallic oxide nanoparticles against fungi and bacteria, since they are highly studied components whose cytotoxicity mechanisms have been explained in detail (Arzate-Quintana et al 2017;Selvaraj et al 2018). Even though they are a promising alternative, some of these nanoparticles are also toxic to human cells and tissues (Duffin et al 2007;Jeng and Swanson 2006), and their direct use in patients must be supplemented with other components to augment their biocompatibility, these modifications can complicate the synthesis process, increasing the cost of production.…”

Nanoparticles as New Therapeutic Agents against Candida albicans

“…As an antifungal, nanoparticles show cell wall damage, an oxidative stress increase, and DNA interaction [33]. Nevertheless, the NPs toxicity mechanisms are dependent on the nanoparticle nature, size, and shape and capping nature, among other characteristics.…”

“…This explains the big attraction between small NPs and their agglomeration. The NPs agglomeration is a phenomenon that changes their capacity to work as a caring or their toxicokinetic characteristic [33,107].…”

“…The ions are incorporated into the cell, and they could interact with thiol groups of proteins and enzymes leading to the inhibition of crucial biological activities [82]. Also, the NPs internalization has been reported; this generates the interaction of NPs and ions with molecules of biological importance as DNA or enzymes [33,120]. Inside the cell, the NPs or the ions provoke Fenton's type reaction.…”