1 research outputs found
Bacteria Meet Graphene: Modulation of Graphene Oxide Nanosheet Interaction with Human Pathogens for Effective Antimicrobial Therapy
The
development of new pharmacological strategies that evade bacterial
resistance has become a compelling worldwide challenge. Graphene oxide
(GO) can represent the nanotechnology answer being economical and
easy to produce and to degrade and having multitarget specificity
against bacteria. Several groups tried to define the interaction between
GO sheets and human pathogens. Unfortunately, controversial results
from inhibition to bacterial growth enhancement have been reported.
The main difference among all experimental evidence relies on the
environmental conditions adopted to study the bacteria–GO interaction.
Indeed GO, stable in deionized water, undergoes a rapid and salt-specific
DLVO-like aggregation that influences antimicrobial effects. Considering
this phenomenon, the interaction of bacteria with GO aggregates having
different sizes, morphologies, and surface potential can create a
complex scenario that explains the contrasting results reported so
far. In this article, we demonstrate that by modulating the GO stability
in solution, the antibacterial or growth enhancement effect can be
controlled on <i>S. aureus</i> and <i>E. coli</i>. GO at low concentration cuts microorganism membranes and at high
concentration forms complexes with pathogens and inhibits or enhances
bacterial growth in a surface potential-dependent manner. With the
framework defined in this study, the clinical application of GO gets
closer, and controversial results in literature can be explained