Hydrophilic nanoparticles that kill bacteria while sparing mammalian cells reveal the antibiotic role of nanostructures

Abstract

Developing antibacterial agents which don’t have cytotoxic effects against mammalian cells is of interest for biomedical applications. Here, the authors explore how attaching inert polymer brushes to different sized nanoparticles can result in toxicity to bacteria but not to mammalian cells in a size dependent manner.