%0 Journal Article
%T Interaction of silver nanoparticles with HIV-1
%A Jose Elechiguerra
%A Justin L Burt
%A Jose R Morones
%A Alejandra Camacho-Bragado
%A Xiaoxia Gao
%A Humberto H Lara
%A Miguel Yacaman
%J Journal of Nanobiotechnology
%D 2005
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1477-3155-3-6
%X Nanotechnology provides the ability to engineer the properties of materials by controlling their size, and this has driven research toward a multitude of potential uses for nanomaterials[1]. In the biological sciences, many applications for metal nanoparticles are being explored, including biosensors[2], labels for cells and biomolecules[3], and cancer therapeutics[4].It has been demonstrated that, in the case of noble-metal nanocrystals, the electromagnetic, optical and catalytic properties are highly influenced by shape and size [5-7]. This has driven the development of synthesis routes that allow a better control of morphology and size [8-13]. Noble-metal nanomaterials have been synthesized using a variety of methods, including hard-template[14], bio-reduction[9] and solution phase syntheses[8,10-13].Among noble-metal nanomaterials, silver nanoparticles have received considerable attention due to their attractive physicochemical properties. The surface plasmon resonance and large effective scattering cross section of individual silver nanoparticles make them ideal candidates for molecular labeling[15], where phenomena such as surface enhance Raman scattering (SERS) can be exploited. In addition, the strong toxicity that silver exhibits in various chemical forms to a wide range of microorganisms is very well known [16-18], and silver nanoparticles have recently been shown to be a promising antimicrobial material[19].For these reasons, and based upon our previous work regarding interactions of noble metal nanoparticles with biomolecules[20], we decided to study the interaction of silver nanoparticles with viruses. Herein, we present the first findings of our investigation, the discovery that silver nanoparticles undergo size-dependent interaction with HIV-1.The physicochemical properties of nanoparticles are strongly dependent upon their interactions with capping agent molecules[21]. Indeed, the surface chemistry of the nanoparticles can modify their interactions w
%U http://www.jnanobiotechnology.com/content/3/1/6