Gagnon, Jacinthe Clift, Martin J. D. Vanhecke, Dimitri Kuhn, Dagmar Alice Weber, Pierric Petri-Fink, Alke Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara Fromm, Katharina M. 2015-02-18 Silver compounds and nanoparticles (NPs) are gaining increasing interest in medical applications, specifically in the treatment and prevention of biomaterial-related infections. However, the silver release from these materials, resulting in a limited antimicrobial activity, is often difficult to control. In this paper, ceria nanocontainers were synthesized by a template-assisted method and were then used to encapsulate silver nitrate (AgNO₃/CeO₂ nanocontainers). Over the first 30 days, a significant level of silver was released, as determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). A novel type of ceria container containing silver NPs (AgNP/CeO₂ containers) was also developed using two different template removal methods. The presence of AgNPs was confirmed both on the surface and in the interior of the ceria containers by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Upon removal of the template by calcination, the silver was released over a period exceeding three months (>90 days). However, when the template was removed by dissolution, the silver release was shortened to ≤14 days. The antimicrobial activity of the silver-containing CeO₂ containers was observed and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was determined using the broth dilution method. Investigation on human cells, using a model epithelial barrier cell type (A549 cells), highlighted that all three samples induced a heightened cytotoxicity leading to cell death when exposed to all containers in their raw form. This was attributed to the surface roughness of the CeO₂ nanocontainers and the kinetics of the silver release from the AgNO₃/CeO₂ and AgNP/CeO₂ nanocontainers. In conclusion, despite the need for further emphasis on their biocompatibility, the concept of the AgNP/CeO₂ nanocontainers offers a potentially alternative long-term antibactericidal strategy for implant materials. application/pdf https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/304296 https://folia.unifr.ch/documents/304296/files/fro_isc.pdf https://folia.unifr.ch/documents/304296/files/fro_isc_sm.pdf eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1039/C4TB02079K info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess License undefined Journal of Materials Chemistry B. - 2015, vol. 3, no. 9, p. 1760–1768 info:eu-repo/classification/udc/54 Integrating silver compounds and nanoparticles into ceria nanocontainers for antimicrobial applications http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501