Metal nanobullets for multidrug resistant bacteria and biofilms

Infectious diseases were one of the major causes of mortality until now because drug-resistant bacteria have arisen under broad use and abuse of antibacterial drugs. These multidrug-resistant bacteria pose a major challenge to the effective control of bacterial infections and this threat has prompted the development of alternative strategies to treat bacterial diseases. Recently, use of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) as antibacterial agents is one of the promising strategies against bacterial drug resistance. This review first describes mechanisms of bacterial drug resistance and then focuses on the properties and applications of metallic NPs as antibiotic agents to deal with antibiotic-sensitive and -resistant bacteria. We also provide an overview of metallic NPs as bactericidal agents combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their potential in vivo toxicology for further drug development. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.