Session Speaker

Antibacterial, Antimycotic and Anticancer Activity of Silver Nanoparticles
Ismail M, Hussain ST, Kazmi SAR, Muazzam AG, Nasir M and Mazhar K

Better comprehension of molecular and cellular biology has lead to therapies that are able to overcome the biophysical, biomedical and cellular barriers and expected to give lesser side effects and better antiinfectious and antitumour efficacy. Nanoparticles are unique due to their small size and surface modifiability which paves the way for development of exciting new methods of nanoparticle synthesis with variable composition and a great numbers of functions. They can be used as drug delivery system, imaging, as well as therapeutic agents.

In this study the silver nanoparticles prepared at NCP were thoroughly investigated to study their antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and anticancer activities.
Materials and Methods: Synthesized nanoparticles were diluted with appropriate medium down to 0.024ppm. Antibacterial and antimycotic activities of Ag nanoparticles were examined by the well diffusion method. Following bacterial strains were employed in the screening: Gram-positive Streptococcus pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus and the Gram negative Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. For the antifungal screening Candida albicans were used. For anticancer activity human cancer cell lines HT144 (malignanat melanoma of skin) and H157 (squamous cell lung carcinoma) from ATCC were grown in 96 well tissue culture grade plates. Cytotoxicity was assayed by Sulfrhodamine B (SRB) test and trypan blue exclusion test.

Results: Silver nanoparticles showed a broad spectrum antibacterial and antifungal activity. It inhibited all type of microorganisms tested. Cytotoxic activity was observed for both skin and lung cancer cell lines against the silver nanoparticles. 50% Growth Inhibition (ID50) was observed at 0.39ppm. The cells clearly showed a morphological change as they lost their adherent nature and became rounded in shape. In contrast, normal blood lymphocytes from healthy individuals did not show any effect of nanoparticles and remained viable after 48 hrs of treatment. These naoparticles can be used in number of applications.