Nanobio Silver: Its Interactions with Peptides and Bacteria, and Its Uses in Medicine

A chemical review discusses the molecular interactions of biomolecules with silver ions and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), focusing on peptides as main reaction partners in cells, bacterial interactions with silver, on the use of silver in biomaterials, and the biocompatibility aspects of this metal and its compounds. It provides information about different aspects of silver in medicine, exploring the different levels of activity, ranging from the molecular to the cellular and micrometer dimensions. The silver complexes of all common 20 naturally occurring α-amino acids have been calculated using the hybrid density functional theory (DFT) or the quantitative structure-property relationship methodology. Theoretical studies reveal a common trend, with the three basic amino acids arginine, lysine, and histidine being the strongest silver ion binders, while the nonpolar aliphatic amino acids with the exception of methionine have the weakest silver ion affinity among the naturally occurring amino acids.