Investigation of cell damage of periodontopathic bacteria exposed to silver, zirconium oxide, and silicon oxide nanoparticles as antibacterial agents

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest public health problems of our time. The nanoparticles are a powerful alternative to these antibiotics. Engineered nanoparticles show toxic effects on bacteria by different mechanisms. The bacteria–cell interaction of engineered nanoparticles exerts their toxic effects through changes in cell wall, cell membrane, and cytoplasm content/density. Thus, death occurs as a result of cell deformation. In this study, the cellular damage of silver nanoparticles, which are known to have strong antibacterial properties, and zirconium oxide and silicon oxide engineering nanoparticles, which are less known, on periodontopathic (Prevotella intermedia and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans) bacteria, were investigated by ultrastructural changes. The lysis of the cytoplasm and separation of the membrane cytoplasm were observed. Both types of bacteria treated with Ag ENP show more hollow cytoplasm than bacteria treated with the other two nanoparticles.