Background:
Clostridium botulinum causes botulism, a serious paralytic illness that
results from the ingestion of a botulinum toxin. Because silver nanoparticle products exhibit strong
antimicrobial activity, applications for silver nanoparticles in healthcare have expanded. Therefore,
the objective of the current study was to assess a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of botulism
toxicity using silver nanoparticles.
Methods:
A preliminary test was conducted using doses that produce illness in laboratory animals to
determine the absolute lethal dose (LD100) of botulinum toxin type A (BoNT/A) in mice. Next, the
test animals were divided into six groups containing six mice each. Groups I, II and III were the
negative control (botulinum toxin only), positive control-1 (nano-silver only) and positive control-2
(no treatment), respectively. The remaining groups were allocated to the toxin that was
supplemented with three nano-silver treatments.
Results:
The mortality rates of mice caused by BoNT/A significantly reduced in the treatment groups
with different doses and injection intervals of nano-silver when compared to the negative control
group. BoNT/A toxicity induced by intraperitoneal injection of the toxin of Clostridium botulinum
causes rapid death while when coupled with nano-osilver results in delayed death in mice.
Conclusion:
These results, while open to future improvement, represent a preliminary step towards
the satisfactory control of BoNT/A with the use of silver nanoparticles for human protection against
this bioterrorism threat. Further study in this area can elucidate the underlying mechanism for
detoxifying BoNT/A by silver nanoparticles.
