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Authors
Abstract(s)
Dermatophyte infections have been increasing in the last years, and the most common treatments present some disadvantages, like triggering microbial resistance after a continuous application. Therefore, there is a need to develop viable alternatives. Nanotechnology arises as a promising novel multidisciplinary area that is gaining enormous importance in science and technology, having hence, huge potential for biotechnology, biomedical sciences or pharmaceutical industry applications. Silver, which is known since the antiquity by their antimicrobial properties, was used in this work to produce nanoparticles in order to explore its antifungal potential. Nanoparticles have an increased surface area to volume ratio and thus, a contact area that allows a better interaction with microorganisms.
Therefore, herein two different types of silver nanoparticles were produced: silver nanoparticles and silver nanoparticles coated with a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The nanoparticles produced were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Moreover, the antifungal activity of the two different types of nanoparticles was evaluated and the results showed that they have a good potential for the treatment of infections caused by fungi, since they present similar properties to those of particles previously described in the literature. The toxicity of nanoparticles was also studied, by using keratinocytes from the epidermal layer of the skin, in order to evaluate if the particles kill microorganisms without affecting human cells. The obtained results revealed that the nanoparticles produced have promising properties for their application for therapeutic purposes.
Description
Keywords
Nanopartículas de prata Dermatofitose