ABSTRACT

Infectious diseases of bacterial and viral origins contribute to substantial mortality worldwide. Collaborative efforts have been underway between academia and the industry to develop technologies for a more effective treatment for such diseases. Due to their utility in various industrial applications, nanoparticles (NPs) offer promising potential as antimicrobial agents against bacterial and viral infections. NPs have been established to possess potent antimicrobial activities against various types of pathogens due to their unique characteristics and cell-damaging ability through several mechanisms. The recently accepted antimicrobial mechanisms possessed by NPs include metal ion release, oxidative stress induction, and non-oxidative mechanisms. Another merit of NPs lies in the low likelihood of the development of microbial tolerance towards NPs, given the multiple simultaneous mechanisms of action against the pathogens targeting numerous gene mutations in these pathogens. Moreover, NPs provide a fascinating opportunity to curb microbial growth before infections: this outstanding feature has led to their utilization as active antimicrobial agents in different industrial applications, e.g. the coating of medical devices, incorporation in food packaging, promoting wound healing and encapsulation with other potential materials for wastewater treatment. This review discusses the progress and achievements in the antimicrobial applications of NPs, factors contributing to their actions, mechanisms underlying their efficiency, and risks of their applications, including the antimicrobial action of metal nanoclusters (NCs). The review concludes with a discussion of the restrictions on present studies and future prospects of nanotechnology-based NPs development.

摘要

细菌和病毒来源的传染病导致全世界大量死亡。学术界和工业界一直在进行合作，以开发更有效治疗此类疾病的技术。由于它们在各种工业应用中的实用性，纳米颗粒 (NP) 具有作为抗细菌和病毒感染的抗菌剂的潜力。由于其独特的特性和通过多种机制破坏细胞的能力，NPs 已被确定为对各种类型的病原体具有有效的抗菌活性。最近公认的纳米颗粒具有的抗菌机制包括金属离子释放、氧化应激诱导和非氧化机制。NPs 的另一个优点在于微生物对 NPs 产生耐受性的可能性很低，鉴于针对病原体的多种同时作用机制，针对这些病原体中的众多基因突变。此外，NPs 提供了一个在感染前抑制微生物生长的迷人机会：这一突出的特性导致它们在不同的工业应用中用作活性抗菌剂，例如医疗器械的涂层、食品包装中的结合、促进伤口愈合和与其他物质的封装。废水处理的潜在材料。本综述讨论了纳米颗粒在抗菌应用方面的进展和成就、影响其作用的因素、其效率的潜在机制以及其应用的风险，包括金属纳米簇 (NCs) 的抗菌作用。