Silver nanoparticles inhibit E. coli virulence via down-regulation of fimH gene

: Ibraheem SA, Kadhem AHA, Jabir MS, Al Kahachi R, Pircalabioru GG, Budu V, Gheorghe I, Alexandru I, Mihailescu D

Publisher: ARS DOCENDI

: 2020

: Romanian Biotechnological Letters

: ROMANIAN BIOTECHNOLOGICAL LETTERS

: ROM BIOTECH LETT

: 25

: 6

: 2168

: 2173

: 6

: 1224-5984

: 2248-3942

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25083/rbl/25.6/2168.2173

: https://www.rombio.org/vol.25/iss.6/publications.html

Nowadays, nanoparticles are employed in a vast number of downstream biological approaches including drug delivery,imaging of tumors and antimicrobial therapy. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are one of the most common type of nanoparticles used in medical applications. This study aimed to identify the mechanism of action exhibited by AgNPs against E. coli bacterial strains. The antibacterial activity of Ag NPs was tested using the agar well diffusion assay ands their mode of action was investigated by AO-EtBr staining and scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, the effect of AgNPs nanoparticles on E. coli fimH gene was carried out using qRT-PCR. Ag NPs exhibited antimicrobial activity against uropathogenic E. coli strains. We show here that Ag NPS acted on the cytoplasmic membrane and nucleic acid of bacteria resulting in a loss of integrity and increased permeability, nucleic acid damage, and down-regulated expression of the fimH gene.