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Selenium nanoparticles inhibit Staphylococcus aureus growth

Authors Tran, Webster T 

Published 29 July 2011 Volume 2011:6 Pages 1553—1558

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S21729

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 4



Phong A Tran1, Thomas J Webster2
1Physics Department, 2School of Engineering and Department of Orthopedics, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

Abstract: Staphylococcus aureus is a key bacterium commonly found in numerous infections. S. aureus infections are difficult to treat due to their biofilm formation and documented antibiotic resistance. While selenium has been used for a wide range of applications including anticancer applications, the effects of selenium nanoparticles on microorganisms remain largely unknown to date. The objective of this in vitro study was thus to examine the growth of S. aureus in the presence of selenium nanoparticles. Results of this study provided the first evidence of strongly inhibited growth of S. aureus in the presence of selenium nanoparticles after 3, 4, and 5 hours at 7.8, 15.5, and 31 µg/mL. The percentage of live bacteria also decreased in the presence of selenium nanoparticles. Therefore, this study suggests that selenium nanoparticles may be used to effectively prevent and treat S. aureus infections and thus should be further studied for such applications.

Keywords: antibacterial, S. aureus, infection

 

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