Intramacrophage antimicrobial effect of silver nanoparticles against Brucella melitensis 16M

Brucellosis is a zoonosis disease of worldwide importance among animal and humans. The most important virulence factor of Brucella spp. is related to its intramachrophage survival. On the other hand, because of the side effects of the current brucellosis treatment regime, it is necessary to find out new antimicrobial agents to treat the disease. The aim of this study is to investigate the antibacterial effect of silver nanoparticles against Brucella under an intramacrophage condition. A well diffusion agar test showed the activity of silver nanoparticles against Brucella melitensis 16M. Macrodilution experiments demonstrated the MIC and MBC of silver nanoparticles 4 and 6 ppm, respectively. The incubation time study showed that silver nanoparticles were able to kill bacteria within 40 min after the reaction. The cell culture study revealed that silver nanoparticles have effective antimicrobial activity inside the macrophage cells in concentrations of 4–6 ppm and the findings showed that one may consider silver nanoparticles as a new nano drug against intramachrophage Brucella melitensis 16M.