Synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of antimicrobial and cytotoxic effect of silver and titanium nanoparticles

Microbial resistance represents a challenge for the scientific community to develop new bioactive compounds. Nosocomial infections represent an enormous emerging problem, especially in patients with ambulatory treatment, which requires that they wear medical devices for an extended period of time. In this work, an evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of both silver and titanium nanoparticles was carried out against a panel of selected pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms, some of them commonly associated with device-associated infections. Cytotoxicity assays monitoring DNA damage and cell viability were evaluated using human-derived monocyte cell lines. We show that silver-coated nanoparticles having a size of 20-25 nm were the most effective among all the nanoparticles assayed against the tested microorganisms. In addition, these nanoparticles showed no significant cytotoxicity, suggesting their use as antimicrobial additives in the process of fabrication of ambulatory and nonambulatory medical devices.