AUTHOR=Tiwari Vishvanath , Tiwari Monalisa , Solanki Vandana 

TITLE=Polyvinylpyrrolidone-Capped Silver Nanoparticle Inhibits Infection of Carbapenem-Resistant Strain of Acinetobacter baumannii in the Human Pulmonary Epithelial Cell

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00973

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2017.00973

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Acinetobacter baumannii</italic>, an opportunistic ESKAPE pathogen, causes respiratory and urinary tract infections. Its prevalence increases gradually in the clinical setup. Pathogenicity of <italic>Acinetobacter</italic> is significantly influenced by its ability to infect and survive in human pulmonary cells. Therefore, it is important to study the infection of <italic>A. baumannii</italic> in human pulmonary host cell (A-549), monitoring surface interacting and internalized bacteria. It was found that during infection of <italic>A. baumannii</italic>, about 40% bacteria adhered to A-549, whereas 20% got internalized inside pulmonary cell and induces threefold increase in the reactive oxygen species production. We have synthesized polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-capped AgNPs using chemical methods and tested its efficacy against carbapenem-resistant strain of <italic>A. baumannii</italic>. PVP-capped silver nanoparticles (PVP-AgNPs) (30 µM) have shown antibacterial activity against carbapenem-resistant strain of <italic>A. baumannii</italic> and this concentration does not have any cytotoxic effect on the human pulmonary cell line (IC<sub>50</sub> is 130 µM). Similarly, PVP-AgNPs treatment decreases 80% viability of intracellular bacteria, decreases adherence of <italic>A. baumannii</italic> to A-549 (40 to 2.2%), and decreases intracellular concentration (20 to 1.3%) of <italic>A. baumannii</italic>. This concludes that PVP-AgNPs can be developed as a substitute for carbapenem to control the infection caused by carbapenem-resistant <italic>A. baumannii</italic>.</p>