Advances and Prospects in Antimicrobial Research using Nanomedicines

Background Nanotechnology is moving toward future goals in the field of medicines, cosmetics and hospitality due to the size reduction of material in the range of 1-100nm, enhancing the stability and bioavailability of the material. Objective This review includes the progress in the field of nanotechnology, its advantages, understanding and applications in antimicrobial therapy. Methods The manuscripts were collected in the field of antimicrobial research with the help of nanotechnology platforms from different sources like PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google. A total of 236 manuscripts were collected and analyzed, out of which 93 were relevant and considered for the present manuscript. Results There are diverse forms of metallic nanomaterials that show antimicrobial properties, such as gold, silver, copper, zinc, titanium and many such metal oxides. Various carriers are used to deliver the drug at targeted sites via encapsulating the nanomaterial in polymers, liposomes or in the lipoidal structure. The inhibition of microorganism growth may be attributed to different mechanisms like destroying the synthesis of a cell wall, nucleic acid, injury to the bacteria cell wall and inhibiting the metabolic pathways in bacteria. This enhanced the antimicrobial activity and reduced the toxicity that could be significant due to a reduction in the dose proportionality. Conclusion The recent advances in drug delivery with the help of liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, dendrimers, and various nanoparticles led to effective prevention, treatment and diagnosis of various microbial infections and this could dramatically change the way antimicrobial therapy explored for reducing drug resistance.