Porcine skin gelatin-silver nanocomposites: synthesis, characterisation, cell cytotoxicity, and antibacterial properties

IET Nanobiotechnol. 2017 Dec;11(8):957-964. doi: 10.1049/iet-nbt.2017.0015.

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesised with hydrothermal autoclaving technique by using AgNO3 salt (silver precursor) at different concentrations (0.01, 0.1, 0.55, 1.1, 5.5, and 11 mM) and porcine skin (1% (w/v) ) gelatin polymeric matrix (reducing and stabiliser agent). The reaction was performed in an autoclave at 103 kPa and 121°C and the hydrothermal autoclaving exposure time and AgNO3 molar concentration were varied at a constant porcine skin gelatin concentration. The as-prepared AgNPs were characterised by UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The antibacterial properties of AgNPs were tested against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assays were used to test whether the synthesised AgNPs can be potentially applied in cancer therapy or used as an antioxidant. This approach is a promising simple route for synthesising AgNPs with a smaller average particle 10 nm diameter. Furthermore, AgNPs exhibited a good cytotoxicity activity, reducing the viability of the liver cancer cell line HepG2 with a moderate IC50; they also showed a low-to-fair antioxidant activity. In addition, AgNPs had a remarkable preferential antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria than gram-negative bacteria. Therefore, these fabricated AgNPs can be used as an antibacterial agent in curative and preventive health care.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cell Survival / drug effects*
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Gelatin / chemistry*
  • Gelatin / pharmacology*
  • Gram-Negative Bacteria / drug effects
  • Gram-Positive Bacteria / drug effects
  • Hep G2 Cells
  • Humans
  • Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
  • Nanocomposites / chemistry*
  • Silver / chemistry*
  • Silver / pharmacology*
  • Skin / chemistry*
  • Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • Swine

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Silver
  • Gelatin