Silver and its ions are well known to possess antimicrobial properties. Due to the fact that modern antibiotics replaced silver in the 1950's, much of the molecular mechanism of its action remain unknown. However, with increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics, silver and its compounds have experienced a revival of research done in that field, especially in the context of medical implants.Indeed, the Fromm group has developed nano-coatings based on silver coordination compounds for implants with good antimicrobial and biocompatibility properties. We now studied the molecular interactions of silver ions with model amino acid sequences in order to understand its mechanism of action upon peptides and proteins. Coordination effect and redox processes will be presented.

Interactions of model peptides with silver: Toward a molecular mechanism of action of antimicrobial silver ions

245th National Meeting (2013)

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