Nanosilver: new ageless and versatile biomedical therapeutic scaffold

Abstract

Shahid Ullah Khan,1,2 Tawfik A Saleh,3 Abdul Wahab,4 Muhammad Hafeez Ullah Khan,1,2 Dilfaraz Khan,5 Wasim Ullah Khan,6 Abdur Rahim,7 Sajid Kamal,8 Farman Ullah Khan,9 Shah Fahad1,10 1College of Plant Sciences and Technology, 2National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Chemistry, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Pharmacy, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, 5Institute of Chemical Sciences, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan; 6School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 7Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials (IRCBM), COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Pakistan; 8School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, People’s Republic of China; 9Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology, Bannu, 10Department of Agriculture, University of Swabi, Swabi, Pakistan Abstract: Silver nanotechnology has received tremendous attention in recent years, owing to its wide range of applications in various fields and its intrinsic therapeutic properties. In this review, an attempt is made to critically evaluate the chemical, physical, and biological synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as well as their efficacy in the field of theranostics including microbiology and parasitology. Moreover, an outlook is also provided regarding the performance of AgNPs against different biological systems such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites (leishmanial and malarial parasites) in curing certain fatal human diseases, with a special focus on cancer. The mechanism of action of AgNPs in different biological systems still remains enigmatic. Here, due to limited available literature, we only focused on AgNPs mechanism in biological systems including human (wound healing and apoptosis), bacteria, and viruses which may open new windows for future research to ensure the versatile application of AgNPs in cosmetics, electronics, and medical fields. Keywords: synthesis of AgNPs, theranostics, antimicrobial properties, biomedical applications of AgNPs

Keywords

• Synthesis of Ag NPs
• Theranostics
• Antimicrobial Properties
• Biomedical applications of Ag NPs.