Iftekhar Hossain Md, Edwards Jarrod, Tyler James, Anderson John, Bandyopadhyay Supriyo
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23220, USA.
US Army Engineers Research and Development Center, Alexandria, VA 22315, USA.
IET Nanobiotechnol. 2017 Aug;11(5):501-505. doi: 10.1049/iet-nbt.2016.0129.
Silver is known to possess anti-microbial properties that are of origin. It is believed that either Ag atoms bind to thiol groups in bacterial enzymes or Ag ions enter bacterial cells and denature the DNA molecule to kill bacteria. Silver , however, may kill bacteria by another mechanism: it is possible that the sharp tips of the nanorods puncture bacterial cells and kill bacteria via impalement-a mechanism. To test if this can indeed happen, we have compared the anti-microbial properties of silver and CdS nanorods. No significant difference is found between the two even though CdS does not possess the chemical properties of silver. This indicates that the physical kill mechanism is indeed likely and therefore nanorods of material may possess anti-microbial properties. In that case, it is possible to overcome serious short- and long-term health hazard issues which have been posed by silver nanoparticles by replacing them with nanorods of innocuous elements or compounds. A surface containing nanorods of varying heights presents an undulating bed of spikes to microbes and is most inhospitable to bacteria.
众所周知，银具有抗菌特性，其抗菌特性具有多种来源。人们认为，要么是银原子与细菌酶中的硫醇基团结合，要么是银离子进入细菌细胞并使DNA分子变性从而杀死细菌。然而，银可能通过另一种机制杀死细菌：纳米棒的尖锐尖端有可能刺穿细菌细胞并通过刺穿机制杀死细菌。为了测试这种情况是否真的会发生，我们比较了银纳米棒和硫化镉纳米棒的抗菌特性。即使硫化镉不具备银的化学性质，两者之间也未发现显著差异。这表明物理杀灭机制确实有可能存在，因此任何材料的纳米棒都可能具有抗菌特性。在这种情况下，通过用无害元素或化合物的纳米棒替代银纳米颗粒，有可能克服银纳米颗粒所带来的严重的短期和长期健康危害问题。一个包含不同高度纳米棒的表面会呈现出一个起伏不平的尖刺床，对微生物来说极不适宜生存，对细菌尤其如此。
