Poly-l-arginine coated silver nanoprisms and their anti-bacterial properties

Abstract

The aim of this study was to test the effect of two different morphologies of silver nanoparticles, spheres, and prisms, on their antibacterial properties when coated with poly-L-arginine (poly-Arg) to enhance the interactions with cells. Silver nanoparticle solutions were characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, as well as antimicrobial tests. These ultimately showed that a prismatic morphology exhibited stronger antimicrobial effects against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella enterica. The minimum bactericidal concentration was found to be 0.65 μg/mL in the case of a prismatic AgNP-poly-Arg-PVP (silver nanoparticle-poly-L-arginine-polyvinylpyrrolidone) nanocomposite. The anticancer cell activity of the silver nanoparticles was also studied, where the maximum effect against a HeLa cell line was 80% mortality with a prismatic AgNP-poly-Arg-PVP nanocomposite at a concentration of 11 μg/mL. The antimicrobial activity of these silver nanocomposites demonstrates the potential of such coated silver nanoparticles in the area of nano-medicine.