In vitro Antifungal Activity of Silver Nanoparticles Against Ocular Pathogenic Filamentous Fungi
In this study, published in the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics in March 2013, the study authors focused on determining whether or not silver nanoparticles could be used as an effective treatment for fungal keratitis, which is emerging as a “major cause of vision loss” in China and other developing nations due largely to the unavailability of effective antifungals.
According to the study authors, “It is urgent to explore broad-spectrum antifungals to effectively suppress ocular fungal pathogens, and to develop new antifungal eye drops to combat this vision-threatening infection. The aim of this study is to investigate the antifungal activity of silver nanoparticles (nano-Ag) in comparison with that of natamycin against ocular pathogenic filamentous fungi in vitro… Susceptibility tests were performed against 216 strains of fungi isolated from patients with fungal keratitis.” The researchers concluded that silver nanoparticles “…exhibit potent in vitro activity against ocular pathogenic filamentous fungi”.
