The antimicrobial properties of gold

Gold and Kings

Dear colleagues,

Last year we profited the Epiphany to talk about the health properties of one of the gifts that the 3 kings gave to Jesus Christ, myrrh.

This year, although due to its cost it is difficult to use it in health and/or animal nutrition, we will talk about gold.

Throughout the years gold has been a metal of great value because governments could put into circulation their own currency, determined, or backed by the amount of gold they possessed.

For various reasons, this system ceased to be used in 1971, so today, Central Banks can issue as much money as they see fit, as long as they are able to control the economic instabilities that can be generated.

Even so, the applications of this metal have multiplied in recent years, being currently essential for the electronic components industry, aerospace, jewelry … and in the case of nutrition and health, it seems that it could also behave as an excellent antimicrobial.

Gold (Au) is known to be chemically inactive, however when the size of Au nanoparticles is reduced to dimensions close to 1 nm it seems that it could kill Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, so it could be a good option for the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.

At the end of this publication, you can see an article where a comprehensive review of the current state of research on the antimicrobial properties of Nano Clusters (NC) of metallic nanoparticles, basically gold and silver.

The article shows that the general mechanisms of metallic nanoantibiotics directed against bacterial infections include damage of the cell wall and/or membrane, release of metal ions, generation of intracellular ROS, destruction of intracellular components or release of therapeutic agents. He also comments that metal NC-based nanoantibiotics can be integrated with other therapeutic or functional materials, such as functional peptides, to form complementary nanohybrids with enhanced antibacterial effects.

We wish you enjoy the article and may the Three Kings be generous to you.