Submit to Materials Review for Materials Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Advances in Antimicrobial Strategies Based on Nanoparticles

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomaterials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 August 2023) | Viewed by 5719

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ovidiu Oprea

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, “Politehnica” University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Interests: nanostructured photocatalysts; intelligent drug delivery systems; magnetic core-shell nanoparticles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the resurgence of bacterial resistance to traditional antibiotics and the extensive pandemic context have paved the way for alternative therapeutic approaches that can overcome these problems. Smart drug delivery systems are revolutionizing the medical and pharmaceutical fields, like a true magic bullet, being able to deliver on-target, minute quantities of potent drugs, circumventing the systemic toxicity limitations. Nanoparticles and nanosystems have received increasing attention due to their unique physical and chemical properties. Their capacity to fight various bacterial and viral strains extend even further in the realm of antibiofilm properties. Surface functionalization, capping agents and pore loading are just a few of the strategies currently adopted to obtain a drug delivery system. A wide variety of nanocarriers with distinct architectures, sizes and surfaces have been manufactured, including micelles, nanoparticles, nanoemulsions, nanocapsules, nanospheres, nanogels, nanocrystals, polymersomes, liposomes, carbon nanotubes and nanodrugs. Intelligent design of the system makes it so that in the presence of the right stimulus (external or internal), the drug delivery takes place. Some systems cleverly combine the capabilities of drug delivery with those of signaling, in theranostics, a new diagnosis–therapy paradigm.

This Special Issue of Materials will try to cover recent advances in the design and synthesis of nanoparticles and nanomaterials (metals, oxides, carbon-based nanoparticles, dendrimers, lipids, liposomes, polymer nanoparticles, etc.) used in new antimicrobial strategies. We welcome the submission of full papers, communications, and reviews. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

Nanomaterials in medicine (biomedical devices, drug delivery, imaging etc.);
New therapeutic approaches based on antimicrobial nanoparticles;
Advances in drug delivery systems, from 0 to 3D structures;
Stimuli-responsive systems;
Nanoparticles in sensing systems;
Antimicrobial strategies based on nanoparticles.

Prof. Dr. Ovidiu Oprea
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

design and tailoring of nanoparticles
0-3D nanostructured functional materials
smart drug delivery systems
antimicrobial strategies based on nanoparticles

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

22 pages, 12196 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Phytochemical Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles and Their Antimicrobial Investigation on Cotton and Wool Textiles

by Mihaela Cristina Lite, Roxana Constantinescu, Elena Cornelia Tănăsescu, Andrei Kuncser, Cosmin Romanițan, Dan Eduard Mihaiescu, Ioana Lacatusu and Nicoleta Badea

Materials 2023, 16(11), 3924; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16113924 - 24 May 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1376

Abstract

The use of bio-based reagents for silver nanoparticle (AgNP) production has gained much attention among researchers as it has paved the way for environmentally friendly approaches at low cost for synthesizing nanomaterials while maintaining their properties. In this study, Stellaria media aqueous extract was used for silver nanoparticle phyto-synthesis, and the resulting treatment was applied to textile fabrics to test its antimicrobial properties against bacteria and fungi strains. The chromatic effect was also established by determining the L*a*b* parameters. For optimizing the synthesis, different ratios of extract to silver precursor were tested using UV-Vis spectroscopy to observe the SPR-specific band. Moreover, the AgNP dispersions were tested for their antioxidant properties using chemiluminescence and TEAC methods, and the phenolic content was evaluated by the Folin-Ciocâlteu method. For the optimal ratio, values of average size, 50.11 ± 3.25 nm, zeta potential, −27.10 ± 2.16 mV, and polydispersity index, 0.209, were obtained via the DLS technique and zeta potential measurements. AgNPs were further characterized by EDX and XRD techniques to confirm their formation and by microscopic techniques to evaluate their morphology. TEM measurements revealed cvasi-spherical particles with sizes in the range of 10–30 nm, while SEM images confirmed their uniform distribution on the textile fiber surface. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Antimicrobial Strategies Based on Nanoparticles)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

31 pages, 11644 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Altering Microbiomes with Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles: A Metagenomic Analysis

by Vuk Uskoković and Victoria M. Wu

Materials 2022, 15(17), 5824; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15175824 - 24 Aug 2022

Viewed by 2080

Abstract

Hydroxyapatite (HAp), the most abundant biological material among mammals, has been recently demonstrated to possess moderate antibacterial properties. Metagenomics provides a series of tools for analyzing the simultaneous interaction of materials with larger communities of microbes, which may aid in optimizing the antibacterial activity of a material such as HAp. Here, a microbiome intrinsic to the sample of sandy soil collected from the base of an African Natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa) shrub surrounding the children’s sandbox at the Arrowhead Park in Irvine, California was challenged with HAp nanoparticles and analyzed with next-generation sequencing for hypervariable 16S ribosomal DNA base pair homologies. HAp nanoparticles overwhelmingly reduced the presence of Gram-negative phyla, classes, orders, families, genera and species, and consequently elevated the relative presence of their Gram-positive counterparts. Thermodynamic, electrostatic and chemical bonding arguments were combined in a model proposed to explain this selective affinity. The ability of amphiphilic surface protrusions of lipoteichoic acid in Gram-positive bacteria and mycolic acid in mycobacteria to increase the dispersibility of the bacterial cells and assist in their resistance to capture by the solid phase is highlighted. Within the Gram-negative group, the variability of the distal, O-antigen portion of the membrane lipopolysaccharide was shown to be excessive and the variability of its proximal, lipid A portion insufficient to explain the selectivity based on chemical sequence arguments. Instead, flagella-driven motility proves to be a factor favoring the evasion of binding to HAp. HAp displayed a preference toward binding to less pathogenic bacteria than those causative of disease in humans, while taxa having a positive agricultural effect were largely captured by HAp, indicating an evolutionary advantage this may have given it as a biological material. The capacity to selectively sequester Gram-negative microorganisms and correspondingly alter the composition of the microbiome may open up a new avenue in environmental and biomedical applications of HAp. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Antimicrobial Strategies Based on Nanoparticles)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 1405 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Physicochemical, Mechanical, and Photocatalytic Antibacterial Properties of a Methacrylate-Based Dental Material Loaded with ZnO Nanoparticles

by Patricia Comeau, Julia Burgess, Niknaz Malekafzali, Maria Luisa Leite, Aidan Lee and Adriana Manso

Materials 2022, 15(14), 5075; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15145075 - 21 Jul 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1729

Abstract

While resin-based materials meet the many requirements of a restorative material, they lack adequate, long-lasting antimicrobial power. This study investigated a zinc oxide nanoparticle (ZnO NP)-loaded resin-blend (RB) toward a new antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT)-based approach for managing dental caries. The results confirmed that up to 20 wt% ZnO NPs could be added without compromising the degree of conversion (DC) of the original blend. The DC achieved for the 20 wt% ZnO NP blend has been the highest reported. The effects on flexural strength (FS), shear bond strength to dentin (SBS), water sorption (WS), solubility (SL), and viability of Streptococcus mutans under 1.35 J/cm² blue light or dark conditions were limited to ≤20 wt% ZnO NP loading. The addition of up to 20 wt% ZnO NPs had a minimal impact on FS or SBS, while a reduction in the bacteria count was observed. The maximum loading resulted in an increase in SL. Furthermore, 28-day aging in 37 °C water increased the FS for all groups, while it sustained the reduction in bacteria count for the 20 wt% resin blends. Overall, the ZnO NP-loaded resin-based restorative material presents significant potential for use in aPDT. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Antimicrobial Strategies Based on Nanoparticles)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Advances in Antimicrobial Strategies Based on Nanoparticles

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (3 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI