Antimicrobial nanoparticles: current landscape and future challenges

Antimicrobial resistance poses a serious threat to global health, necessitating the exploration of innovative solutions. Antimicrobial nanoparticles have emerged as a promising avenue, exhibiting unique properties by producing superoxide ions and hydroxyl radicals that efficiently kill bacteria. This article takes an in-depth look at state-of-the-art antimicrobial nanoparticles, their types, and modes of action. Metallic, polymeric, lipid, and carbon-based nanoparticles mostly exhibit antimicrobial actions by disrupting membranes, inhibiting enzymes, and producing different types of reactive oxygen species. Despite their promising potential, challenges and concerns surrounding cytotoxicity, biocompatibility, and environmental impact due to the development of resistance demand meticulous consideration and critical evaluation. This raises an urgent need for continuous research efforts, focusing on standardized regulatory outlines and advancements in the tunable synthesis of nanoparticles with optimized balance, large surface area, hydrophobicity, and cationic nature to harness their full potential in controlling antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and wound management.