[ad_1]
Gold nanoparticles can be an alternative to the treatment of infections
The researchers found that the mechanical deformation of bacteria is a toxicity mechanism that allows them to be destroyed by gold nanoparticles and could be an alternative to antibiotics, said the Spanish University Rovira i Virgili (URV). Gold is a chemically inert material, it does not react to living organisms, but it is used in ancient Egyptian medicine and now allows the visualization of tumors, among other applications.
The research team showed that although they are inert, the gold nanoparticles are not harmless to bacteria and can destroy them thanks to a physical mechanism that deforms their cell wall.
Currently, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is widespread in 22 countries, with approximately 500,000 people infected worldwide.
Researcher Peter O’Neill has alerted all the governments of the world that AMR deaths will exceed cancer in 2050, with an estimated 10 million deaths by that date. One consequence of uncontrolled bacterial growth is the increased prevalence of biofilms, which are communities of microorganisms generally composed of several species covered by a self-produced extracellular protective matrix.
To do this, they made a model of an artificial bacterial cell membrane and evaluated how it reacts when it comes into contact with gold nanoparticles synthesized in the laboratory at 100 nanometers (8 times thinner than a hair).
Nanoparticles have unique characteristics and can be weapons to fight infections.
In front of the nanoparticles, it was observed that the bacteria deform, as if the air inside a balloon was sucked up until it was flaccid, said Vladimir Baulin, a researcher at the URV’s Department of Chemical Engineering.
