Silver Enhances Antibiotic Activity Against Gram-Negative Bacteria
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%.
The authors state, “We show that silver disrupts multiple bacterial cellular processes, including disulfide bond formation, metabolism, and iron homeostasis. These changes lead to increased production of reactive oxygen species and increased membrane permeability of Gram-negative bacteria that can potentiate the activity of a broad range of antibiotics against Gram-negative bacteria in different metabolic states, as well as restore antibiotic susceptibility to a resistant bacterial strain.” The authors also revealed that silver-treated bacteria weren’t even able to produce a biofilm, and that when drug-resistant biofilms were treated with silver, the bacterial resistance to antibiotic drugs was negated. Finally, the silver/antibiotic drug combinations tested were able to eradicate bacterial persister cells which can otherwise result in multi-drug tolerance and relapsing chronic infections.
