• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.104-110
• /
• 2016

The transport of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was investigated through a column packed with sand. A series of column experiments were carried out to evaluate the effect of ionic strength (IS), pH, electrolyte type and clay mineral on mobility of polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated silver nanoparticles (PVP-AgNPs). The deposition of PVP-AgNPs was increased with increasing solution ionic strength and decreasing pH. Furthermore, the depositon of PVP-AgNPs was affected by the electrolyte type (NaCl vs. NaNO₃) and was shown to be greater at NaNO₃ solution. Also, the transport of PVP-AgNPs was greatly increased after the pre-deposition of clay particles on sand. Our results suggest that various environmental factors can influence the mobility of PVP-AgNPs in soil-groundwater systems and should be carefully considered in assessing their environmental risks.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.56 no.2
• /
• pp.74-79
• /
• 2012

Citrate-capped silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used in industry, consumer products and medical appliances. However, information on the toxicity, environmental fate and toxicokinetics are not enough. In this study, stability of citrate-capped AgNPs was investigated using different types of isotonic solution, which is important in the toxicokinetic study by the exposure route of intravenous injection. Size, morphology, zeta potential and ion formation were investigated in isotonic solutions for the physico-chemical characterization of AgNPs. Aggregation and precipitation of AgNPs were observed in saline or phosphate-buffered saline while they were stable without precipitation in 2% glycerol of isotonic solution. The average size of AgNPs in 2% glycerol was 6~10 nm, which was almost same as that in water-based suspension of AgNPs. Zeta potential was ranged from -30 mV to -60 mV, which was in the range of original stock AgNPs. The stability was maintained during the whole experimental period of 48 hours. Furthermore, the stability was not changed in different temperature (10~36$^{\circ}C$) and at different concentrations (10~1,000 ppm). The osmolarity of the AgNPs suspension was $299{\pm}1$ mOsm/kg which was in isotonic range. These data suggest that AgNPs in 2% glycerol solution can be used for the preparations of intravenous injection for toxicokinetic study without undesired disturbance of blood isotonicity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.11
• /
• pp.1841-1851
• /
• 2019

Garcinol, a well-known medicinal phytochemical, was extracted and isolated from the dried fruit rinds of Garcinia quaesita Pierre. In this study, garcinol has successfully used to reduce silver ions to silver in order to synthesize garcinol-capped silver nanoparticles (G-AgNPs). The formation and the structure of G-AgNPs were confirmed by UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The antimicrobial activity of garcinol and G-AgNPs were investigated by well diffusion assays, broth micro-dilution assays and time-kill kinetics studies against five microbial species, including Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Candida albicans (ATCC 10231) and clinically isolated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The formation of G-AgNPs is a promising novel approach to enhancing the biological activeness of silver nanoparticles, and to increase the water solubility of garcinol which creates a broad range of therapeutic applications.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.1299-1306
• /
• 2014

Background: Nano-biotechnology is recognized as offering revolutionary changes in various fields of medicine. Biologically synthesized silver nanoparticles have a wide range of applications. Materials and Methods: Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were biosynthesized with an aqueous extract of Pterocladiella (Pterocladia) capillacea, used as a reducing and stabilizing agent, and characterized using UV-VIS spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infra red (FT-IR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive analysis (EDX). The biosynthesized AgNPs were tested for cytotoxic activity in a human hepatocellular carcinoma ($HepG_2$) cell line cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 1% antibiotic and antimycotic solution and 2 mM glutamine. Bacterial susceptibility to AgNPs was assessed with Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis [Gram+ve] and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli [Gram-ve]. The agar well diffusion technique was adopted to evaluate the bactericidal activity of the biosynthesized AgNPs using Ampicillin and Gentamicin as gram+ve and gram-ve antibacterial standard drugs, respectively. Results: The biosynthesized AgNPs were $11.4{\pm}3.52$ nm in diameter. FT-IR analysis showed that carbonyl groups from the amino acid residues and proteins could assist in formation and stabilization of AgNPs. The AgNPs showed potent cytotoxic activity against the human hepatocellular carcinoma ($HepG_2$) cell line at higher concentrations. The results also showed that the biosynthesized AgNPs inhibited the entire panel of tested bacteria with a marked specificity towards Bacillus subtillus. Conclusions: Cytotoxic activity of the biosynthesized AgNPs may be due to the presence of alkaloids present in the algal extract. Our AgNPs appear more bactericidal against gram-positive bacteria (B. subtillus).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.453-464
• /
• 2014

The current research was focused on the extracellular biosynthesis of bactericidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using cell-free supernatant of a local isolate previously identified as a novel Streptomyces aegyptia NEAE 102. The biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by Streptomyces aegyptia NEAE 102 was quite fast and required far less time than previously published strains. The produced particles showed a single surface plasmon resonance peak at 400 nm by UV-Vis spectroscopy, which confirmed the presence of AgNPs. Response surface methodology was chosen to evaluate the effects of four process variables ($AgNO_3$ concentration, incubation period, pH levels, and inoculum size) on the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by Streptomyces aegyptia NEAE 102. Statistical analysis of the results showed that the linear and quadratic effects of incubation period, initial pH, and inoculum size had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by Streptomyces aegyptia NEAE 102. The maximum silver nanoparticles biosynthesis (2.5 OD, at 400 nm ) was achieved in runs number 5 and 14 under the conditions of 1 mM $AgNO_3$ (1-1.5% (v/v)), incubation period (72-96 h), initial pH (9-10), and inoculum size (2-4% (v/v)). An overall 4-fold increase in AgNPs biosynthesis was obtained as compared with that of unoptimized conditions. The biosynthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized using UV-VIS spectrophotometer and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis, in addition to antimicrobial properties. The biosynthesized AgNPs significantly inhibited the growth of medically important pathogenic gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and yeast (Candida albicans).

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2018.04a
• /
• pp.94-94
• /
• 2018

The gold (LC-AuNPs) and silver (LC-AgNPs) nanoparticles were rapidly synthesized by fruit extract of Lycium chinense within 1.15 and 25 min respectively in an eco-friendly way. The synthesized nanoparticles confirmed by relevant surface plasmon resonance peaks for gold and silver nanoparticles at 536 and 480 nm, respectively. FE-TEM results revealed that LC-AuNPs were 20-50 nm and LC-AgNPs were 50-100 nm. The maximum distribution of gold, silver elements and the crystallographic nature of synthesized were confirmed using EDX, elemental mapping and XRD. LC-AgNPs showed inhibitory activity against pathogenic microorganisms such as E. coli and S. aureus, whereas LC-AuNPs did not show inhibitory activity. The LC-AgNps nanoparticles exhibited significant cytotoxicity to human breast cancer MCF7 cell line and less cytotoxicity to non-diseased RAW264.7 (murine macrophage) cells whereas LC-AuNps showed minimal toxicity to both cell lines. In-depth research on this rapid, facile and greenery nanoparticles may play a potential role in biomedical applications.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.60-64
• /
• 2012

Silver(I) [bis(alkylthio)methylene]malonates were synthesized from the reaction of silver nitrate and potassium [bis(alkylthio)methylene]malonates. The structures of the Ag complexes were characterized with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and elemental analysis. Ag nanoparticles (NPs) were obtained from the decomposition of the Ag complexes in 1,2-dichlorobenzene at $110^{\circ}C$ without an additional surfactant. The average sizes of the Ag NPs are in the range of 5.1-6.3 nm and could be controlled by varying the length of the alkyl chain. The optical properties, crystalline structure and surface composition of Ag NPs were characterized with ultraviolet-visible (UV-visible) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.16
• /
• pp.6773-6779
• /
• 2014

Background: Nanotechnology opens new applications in many fields including medicine. Among all metallic nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles (silver NPS) have proved to be the most effective against a large variety of organisms including toxic cyanobacteria. Materials and Methods: Silver NPs were biosynthesized in vivo with different alga species namely, Spirulina piatensis, Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus oh/iquus following two scenarios. First: by suspending a thoroughly washed algae biomass in 1 mM aqueous $AgN0_3$ solution. Second: by culturing them individually in culture media containing the same concentration of $AgN0_3$. Silver NPs were characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive analysis (EDX) and Fourier transform infra-red (FfIR) spectroscopy. The biosynthesized silver NPs were tested for cytotoxic activity against a cancer promoter cyanobacteruim Microcystis aeruginosa, considering effects on cell viability and chlorophyll content. Results: The surface plasmon band indicated the biosynthesis of silver NPs at ~400 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the silver NPs had a mean average size below 100 nm. Energy-dispersive analysis X-ray (EDX) spectra confirmed the presence of silver element. FfIR spectral analyses suggested that proteins and or polysaccharides may be responsible for the biosynthesis of silver NPs and (-COO-) of carboxylate ions is responsible for stabilizing them. The toxic potentialities ofthe biosynthesized silver NPs against the cancer promoter cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa showed high reduction in viable cells count and the total chlorophyll content. Conclusions: The potential activity of the biosynthesized silver NPs from the studied algae species against Microcystis aernginosa cells is expected to be mainly mediated by the release of silver ions (Ag+) from the particle surface and bioactive compounds as indicated by FfIR analysis.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.399-405
• /
• 2012

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used nanoparticles and they are mainly used in antibacterial and personal care products. In this study, we evaluated the effect of AgNPs on cell death induction in the murine dendritic cell line DC2.4. DC2.4 cells exposed to AgNPs showed a marked decrease in cell viability and an induction of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In addition, AgNPs promoted reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent apoptosis and AgNP-induced ROS triggered a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential. The activation of the intracellular signal transduction pathway was also observed in cells cultured with AgNPs. Taken together, our data demonstrate that AgNPs are able to induce a cytotoxic effect in DCs through ROS generation. This study provides important information about the safety of AgNPs that may help in guiding the development of nanotechnology applications.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.28
• /
• pp.6.1-6.7
• /
• 2013

Objectives In this study, we investigated the influence of ionic strength and natural organic matter (NOM) on aggregation and soil adsorption of citrate-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Methods Time-resolved dynamic light scattering measurements and batch adsorption experiments were used to study their aggregation and soil adsorption behaviors, respectively. Results The aggregation rate of AgNPs increased with increasing ionic strength and decreasing NOM concentration. At higher ionic strength, the AgNPs were unstable, and thus tended to be adsorbed to the soil, while increased NOM concentration hindered soil adsorption. To understand the varying behaviors of AgNPs depending on the environmental factors, particle zeta potentials were also measured as a function of ionic strength and NOM concentration. The magnitude of particle zeta potential became more negative with decreasing ionic strength and increasing NOM concentration. These results imply that the aggregation and soil adsorption behavior of AgNPs were mainly controlled by electrical double-layer repulsion consistent with the Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek theory. Conclusions This study found that the aggregation and soil adsorption behavior of AgNPs are closely associated with environmental factors such as ionic strength and NOM and suggested that assessing the environmental fate and transport of nanoparticles requires a thorough understanding of particle-particle interaction mechanisms.