Research Article
Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles and Their Bactericidal
and Antimycotic Activities against Oral Microbes
Osvelia E. Rodríguez-Luis,
1
Rene Hernandez-Delgadillo,
1
Rosa Isela Sánchez-Nájera,
1
Gabriel Alejandro Martínez-Castañón,
2
Nereyda Niño-Martínez,
3
María del Carmen Sánchez Navarro,
2
Facundo Ruiz,
3
and Claudio Cabral-Romero
1
1
Facultad de Odontologia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon (UANL), 64460 Monterrey, NL, Mexico
2
Facultad de Estomatologia, UASLP, 78290 San Luis Potos´ ı, SLP, Mexico
3
Facultad de Ciencias, UASLP, 78290 San Luis Potos´ ı, SLP, Mexico
Correspondence should be addressed to Nereyda Ni˜ no-Mart´ ınez; nereyda n@yahoo.com and
Claudio Cabral-Romero; claudiohubble@hotmail.com
Received 11 November 2015; Revised 27 March 2016; Accepted 29 March 2016
Academic Editor: Paulo Cesar Morais
Copyright © 2016 Osvelia E. Rodr´ ıguez-Luis et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Nanotechnology is a new discipline with huge applications including medicine and pharmacology industries. Although several
methods and reducing agents have been employed to synthesize silver nanoparticles, reactive chemicals promote toxicity and
nondesired efects on the human and biological systems. Te objective of this work was to synthesize silver nanoparticles
from Glycyrrhiza glabra and Amphipterygium adstringens extracts and determine their bactericidal and antimycotic activities
against Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans growth, respectively. 1 and 10mM silver nitrate were mixed with an extract
of Glycyrrhiza glabra and Amphipterygium adstringens. Green silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were characterized by TEM, Vis-
NIR, FTIR, fuorescence, DLS, TGA, and X-ray difraction (XRD) analysis. Bactericidal and antimycotic activities of AgNPs were
determined by Kirby and Bauer method and cell viability MTT assays. AgNPs showed a spherical shape and average size of 9nm
if prepared with Glycyrrhiza glabra extract and 3 nm if prepared with Amphipterygium adstringens extract. AgNPs inhibited the
bacterial and fungal growth as was expected, without a signifcant cytotoxic efect on human epithelial cells. Altogether, these
results strongly suggest that AgNPs could be an interesting option to control oral bioflms.
1. Introduction
Nanotechnology is a relative new discipline with huge appli-
cations in many areas including medicine and pharmacology
industries [1, 2]. Te increasing development of multidrug-
resistant strains among pathogen microbes has become
one of the most important problems in medicine world-
wide [3]. Great advances in nanotechnology have provided
a solid foundation for using nanoparticles (NPs) in the
fght against pathogen microorganisms, including multidrug-
resistant bacteria [2, 4, 5]. Previously the biocidal proper-
ties of nanoclusters of several metals have been described,
mainly, silver, gold, zinc, titanium, and bismuth [6–10]. Aside
from their potential metal nanoparticles present cytotoxicity
on human cells, this may occur in all reactive chemicals
employed in their synthesis and limiting their use in clinical
practice [11–14].
Te traditional synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs)
uses chemical reducing agents to modify Ag ions to AgNPs
[15]. Te most common used chemical reducing agents are
ascorbic acid [16], hydrazine [17], and sodium borohydride
[18]. Te use of these composites involves undesired side
efects and the biocompatibility of resulting AgNPs is low for
being employed in biological systems. Recently new methods
based on green synthesis that use environmental compounds
as reducing agents are emerging [19–22]. Plants, bacteria,
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Journal of Nanomaterials
Volume 2016, Article ID 9204573, 10 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/9204573