Inorganic nanoparticles: an alternative therapy to combat drug resistant infections
- Vol.13(8)
- M P Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd 2021
- 20-31p.
One of the most urgent challenges that medical sciences face today is overcoming the problem of drug resistance. This review paper encompasses research studies that provide a solution towards this major concern. It aims to highlight the therapeutic effects of various metal-based nanoparticles over conventional antibiotics. Severe infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites are transmitted easily and spread across millions of people round the globe. Resistance developed by these organisms and their various strains against regular antibiotics has posed great threat to save the lives of humans. Nanoparticles are tiny in nature and thus capable of generating Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). These ROS bursts to create severe oxidative stresses causing damage to DNA, lipids peroxidation and protein changes resulting in cell death. This mechanism is quite different from traditional antibiotics and hence gives better results towards microbial resistance. The study demonstrates the use of metal nanoparticles such as silver, zinc oxide, aluminium oxide, gold, copper oxide, titanium dioxide, magnesium oxide, iron oxide in combination with various antibiotics to efficiently kill infectious microbes.