Limitations of Recent Studies Dealing with the Antibacterial Properties of Silver Nanoparticles: Fact and Opinion

Abstract

Due to the constant increase in the number of infectious diseases and the concomitant lack of treatment available, metallic nanoparticles (e.g., silver nanoparticles) have been of particular interest in the last decades. Indeed, several studies suggest that silver nanoparticles have valuable antimicrobial activities, especially against bacteria, which may lead us to think that these nanoparticles may one day be an attractive therapeutic option for the treatment of bacterial infections. Unfortunately, when we look a little closer to these studies, we can see a very great heterogeneity (e.g., in the study design, in the synthetic process of nanoparticles, in the methods that explore the antibacterial properties of nanoparticles and in the bacteria chosen) making cross-interpretation between these studies impossible, and significantly limiting the interest of silver nanoparticles as promising antibacterial agents. We have selected forty-nine international publications published since 2015, and propose to discuss, not the results obtained, but precisely the different methodologies developed in these publications. Through this discussion, we highlighted the aspects to improve, or at least to homogenize, in order to definitively establish the interest of silver nanoparticles as valuable antibacterial agents.