Clinical Studies

In this clinical study, published in the journal Nanotoxicology in June 2016, researchers demonstrated that oral administration of silver nanoparticles capped with PVP or Citrate had negligible effect on gut bacteria in the murine (mouse) model – the implication being that silver nanoparticles delivered orally either through unintentional contact with consumer products, or through dietary supplementation, or as a substitute for antibiotics in animal feed would not harm beneficial digestive microbes.

In a clinical study titled “Anti-Malassezia furfur Activity of Natural Surfactant Mediated In-Situ Silver Nanoparticles for a Better Antidandruff Shampoo Formulation,” published in January 2016 in the chemical sciences journal RSC Advances, researchers pointed out that the dandruff-causing fungus Malassezia furfur was becoming resistant to common anti-dandruff drugs and medications

In a study published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine in August, 2012, titled “Cytocompatible Antifungal Acrylic Resin Containing Silver Nanoparticles For Dentures,” researchers from the School of Dentistry, National Autonomus University of Mexico, found that adding silver nanoparticles to denture resins could “play a significant role in stopping the proliferation of oral Candida fungal infections in denture wearers” that lead to a condition known as dental stomatitis.

In this press release from Rice University, clinical researchers discuss the results of their new study titled “Negligible Particle-Specific Antibacterial Activity of Silver Nanoparticles,” which was published in the July 5, 2012 issue of the journal Nano Letters. In their study, the researchers demonstrate conclusively that silver ions, and not metallic silver particles (i.e., nanosilver) are what make silver toxic to bacteria.

In this study published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (Dec. 2005, American Society for Microbiology) it was revealed that Staphylococci epidermis biofilms have been found to be “markedly impaired” by very low, non-inhibitory levels of silver ions. This is important news, since biofilms give communities of microorganisms a distinct ability to resist antibiotic drugs.

Dr. Kent Holtorf, M.D. discusses historical safety and efficacy of various forms of colloidal silver, used orally and intravenously, including oligodynamic silver.

Another company sets the record straight regarding the safety of nano-sized ionic colloidal silver!

This is the famous, oft-quoted 1978 Science Digest article on silver and healing, by Jim Powell, in its entirety.

In this study titled, “Silver as Antibacterial Toward Listeria monocytogenes,” published in Frontiers in Microbiology, in March 2016, researchers from the Department of Food Safety at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie in Legnaro, Italy wrote: “Listeria monocytogenes is a serious food-borne pathogen that can contaminate food during processing and can grow during food shelf-life. New types of safe and effective food contact materials embedding antimicrobial agents, like silver, can play an important role in the food industry…”

In this important 2011 study, researchers demonstrate that “silver colloidal nanoparticles” not only have a profound antifungal effect on two forms of Candida, but is also effective in destroying the biofilms produced by these fungal pathogens.

In this June 2013 clinical study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, titled “Silver Enhances Antibiotic Activity Against Gram-Negative Bacteria,” it was documented by the study authors that antimicrobial silver could be used to help restore the effectiveness of antibiotic drugs by up to 1,000%.

In this report the World Health Organization discusses the maximum allowable amount of silver allowed in drinking water, and reports that the “biological half-life (of silver) in humans ranges from several days to 50 days. According to the report, the liver plays the main role in the elimination of silver from the body.

This study, published in the journal Current Problems in Dermatology (2006;33:17-34) is by one of Britain’s top experts in antimicrobial silver, Alan B. Lansdown of the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, Charing Cross Hospital in London, UK.

This is a brief but interesting backgrounder, or white paper overview, from the respected Silver Institute. It details the use of silver in medicine from the time of Hippocrates to the present day, and into the future. Covers everything from the use of silver sulfadiazine cream in burn and wound treatment, to silver dressings, to new developments in silver-coated surgical implants, to the use of silver in combination with traditional antibiotic drugs as a means of controlling antimicrobial resistance.

This company has installed it’s silver-based water disinfection systems on thousands of European merchant ships and cruise liners since the 1970s to help prevent bacterial contamination of the ship’s water supply. These units – operating on the same basic principle as a colloidal silver generator – have been in constant use for forty years, with the occasional replacement of the silver electrodes. Millions of people have drank the silver purified water – including crew members who drink it regularly.

In this 1999 study published in the journal Metal-Based Drugs, Dr. Robert O. Becker, M.D., documents his two decades worth of research into the use of electrically generated silver ions to cure local infections, including treatment of “over 100 cases of recalcitrant osteomyelitis (i.e., osteomyelitis infections that did not respond to traditional antibiotic drugs) with an overall success rate of approximately 65% and no evidence of argyria.”

Silver nanoparticles are being discovered to have profound therapeutic properties in certain diseases of the eyes that can result in visual impairment or even irreversible blindness. This clinical study review shows that silver nanoparticles may play a successful role in reversing pathological retinal angiogenesis (neovascularization), one of the most feared complications among retinal diseases.

Another great study published in the September 2011 issue of the Journal of Nanobiotechnology, demonstrating the profound bactericidal and virucidal effectiveness of silver nanoparticles, along with implications for the use of AgNP’s against HIV and other viral pathogens.

From the clinical journal Molecules, a review of studies demonstrating the potent antiviral effects of silver nanoparticles against HIV-1, hepatitis B virus, herpes simplex virus, respiratory syncytial virus and monkey pox virus, and concluding that silver and other metal nanoparticles may provide opportunity to develop novel antiviral therapies with lower levels of resistance compared to conventional antiviral drugs.

In this clinical study, published in February 2015 in the journal Molecules, researchers treated a human breast cancer cell line with silver nanoparticles that were synthesized using flowers from the Yarrow herb (Achillea biebersteinii).

In this study abstract, entitled “Nature-inspired novel drug design paradigm using nanosilver: efficacy on multi-drug-resistant clinical isolates of tuberculosis” the authors state that by capping silver nanoparticles with bovine serum albumin and then testing it in the laboratory against “clinical isolates collected from TB endemic areas” (i.e., sputum samples collected from pulmonary TB patients) they were able to demonstrate that this novel nanosilver compound constitutes a “potent anti-TB drug.”

In a clinical study titled “Improvement of Vase Life and Post-harvest Factors of Lilium orientalis Bouquet by Silver Nanoparticles,” scientists from the Department of Horticulture at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran tested the hypothesis that silver nanoparticles would help cut flowers live longer by reducing microbial growth in the vase.

Pathogens that form biofilms are among the most frustrating for doctors to deal with because the protective barrier the microbes are able to erect around themselves is difficult for antibiotic drugs to penetrate. The result is often relentless and chronic infection. In this clinical study researchers found that silver nanoparticles impede the formation of the biofilm barriers normally erected by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus epidermidis.

In this clinical study, published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials in January 2014, researchers coated silver nanoparticles with an alginate/chitosan blend, and then treated human glioblastoma (i.e., malignant brain cancer) cells with them. Using a concentration of 24 ppm silver nanoparticles, the researchers witnessed an “anticell proliferative effect,” meaning, of course, that the brain cancer cells were no longer able to multiply.

In this clinical study, published in February 2015 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the study authors set out to discover whether or not silver nanoparticles could cause harm to human cells. But what the actually discovered surprised them: Silver nanoparticles are toxic to leukemia cells.