Evaluation of the Antibacterial Activity and Biocompatibility
for Silver Nanoparticles Immobilized on Nano Silicate Platelets
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Abstract
Silver nanoparticles
(AgNPs) are known for their bactericidal abilities. The antibacterial
potency is dependent on the particle size and dispersion status. In
this study, we synthesized AgNP/NSP nanohybrids in two different weight
ratios (1/99 and 8/92) using the fully exfoliated clay, i.e., nanosilicate
platelets (NSP), as a dispersing agent and carrier for AgNPs. Due
to the size of NSP, the immobilized AgNPs do not enter cells readily,
which may lower the risk associated with the cellular uptake of AgNPs.
The biocompatibility, immunological response, and antimicrobial activities
of AgNP/NSP hybrids were evaluated. The results revealed that AgNP/NSP
hybrids elicited merely mild inflammatory response and retained the
outstanding antibacterial activity. The hybrids were further embedded
in poly(ether)urethane (PEU) to increase the biocompatibility. At
the same silver content (20 ppm), the PEU-AgNP/NSP nanocomposites
were nontoxic to mouse skin fibroblasts, while simultaneously exhibiting
nearly complete bacterial growth reduction (99.9%). PEU containing
the same amount of free AgNPs did not display such an effect. Our
results verify the better biosafety of the AgNPs/NSP hybrids and their
polymer nanocomposites for further clinical use