Alloying colloidal silver nanoparticles with gold disproportionally controls antibacterial and toxic effects

Elemental silver nanoparticles are an effective antibacterial substance and are found as additive in various medical applications. Gold nanoparticles are used due to their optical properties in microscopy and cancer therapy. These advantages might be combined within alloyed nanoparticles of both elements and thereby open new fields of interest in research and medical treatment. In this context, laser ablation of solid alloys in liquid gives access to colloidal silver–gold alloy nanoparticles with a homogeneous ultrastructure. Elemental and alloy silver–gold nanoparticles with increasing molar fractions of silver (50, 80, and 100?%) were produced and stabilized with citrate or albumin (BSA). Particles were embedded in agar at concentrations of 3–100?μg?cm^?3 and tested on clinical relevant Staphylococcus aureus regarding their antibacterial properties. Cytotoxic effects were measured within the same particle concentration range using human gingival fibroblasts (HGFib). As expected, a reduced fraction of silver in the nanoalloys decreased the antibacterial effect on S. aureus according to the evaluated minimal inhibitory concentrations. However, this decrease turned out stronger than expected by its relative mass per particle, due to the electrochemical, disproportionally high effect of gold on the bioresponse to silver within silver–gold nanoalloy particles. BSA was able to stabilize all colloids and maintain antibacterial activity, whereas sodium citrate reduced antibacterial effects and cytotoxicity even at high nanoparticle concentrations. The alloying of silver with gold by laser ablation in liquid produced nanoparticles with both reduced antibacterial and cytotoxic properties in comparison to silver nanoparticles but still retains the application spectrum of both elements combined in one colloid. In particular, alloying with gold may render silver nanoparticles more biocompatible, and allows bioconjugation via established thiol chemistry.