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Fine mechanisms of the interaction of silver nanoparticles with the cells of Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus

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Abstract

Silver nanoparticles possess antibacterial effect for various bacteria; however mechanisms of the interaction between Ag-NPs and bacterial cells remain unclear. The aim of our study was to obtain direct evidence of Ag-NPs penetration into cells of Gram-negative bacterium S. typhimurium and Gram-positive bacterium S. aureus, and to study cell responses to Ag-NPs. The Ag-NPs (most 8–10 nm) were obtained by gas-jet method. S. typhimurium (7.81 × 107 CFU), or S. aureus (8.96 × 107 CFU) were treated by Ag-NPs (0.05 mg/l of silver) in orbital shaker at 190 rpm, 37 °C. Bacteria were sampled at 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 5 and 23 h of the incubation for transmission electron microscopy of ultrathin sections. The Ag-NPs adsorbed on outer membrane of S. typhimurium and cell wall of S. auereus; penetrated and accumulated in cells without aggregation and damaging of neighboring cytoplasm. In cells of S. aureus Ag-NPs bound with DNA fibers. Cell responses to Ag-NPs differed morphologically in S. typhimurium and S. aureus, and mainly were presented by damage of cell structures. The cytoplasm of S. aureus became amorphous, while S. typhimurium showed lumping and lysis of cytoplasm which led to formation of “empty” cells. Other difference was fast change of cell shape in S. typhimurium, and late deformation of S. aureus cells. The obtained results showed how different could be responses induced by the same NPs in relatively simple prokaryotic cells. Evidently, Ag-NPs directly interact with macromolecular structures of living cells and are exert an active influence on their metabolism.

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Acknowledgments

Authors thank to Dr. Pyshnaya I. A. for the measurement of the charge of bacteria. This study was done in frames of Interdisciplinary Integration Project of SB RAS № 57, and State Task of Ministry of Education (Project #4.3924.2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Lavrent’eva Av., 8, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    Alina Grigor’eva, Irina Saranina, Nina Tikunova & Elena Ryabchikova

  2. Kutateladze Institute of Thermophysics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Lavrent’eva Av., 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    Alexey Safonov, Nikolai Timoshenko & Alexey Rebrov

  3. Novosibirsk State University, ul. Pirogova, 2, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    Elena Ryabchikova

Authors
  1. Alina Grigor’eva
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  2. Irina Saranina
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  3. Nina Tikunova
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  4. Alexey Safonov
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  5. Nikolai Timoshenko
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  6. Alexey Rebrov
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  7. Elena Ryabchikova
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Correspondence to Elena Ryabchikova.

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Grigor’eva, A., Saranina, I., Tikunova, N. et al. Fine mechanisms of the interaction of silver nanoparticles with the cells of Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus . Biometals 26, 479–488 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-013-9633-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-013-9633-3

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