Potato lectin sensitized spherical and anisotropic silver nanoparticles for simple spectrophotometric determination of the sensitivity of bacteria to antibiotics.

A simple photometric approach for estimating the sensitivity of bacteria to antibiotics was developed. The optical properties of potato lectin sensitized spherical and anisotropic silver nanoparticles are drastically changed as a result of their interaction with Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria, whereas antibiotic-treated bacteria substantially lose their ability to bind with such nanoparticles because they disturb their surface properties. As a result, the optical properties of nanoparticles are not significantly changed. The extent of such changes depends on the efficacy of antibiotics. Anisotropic silver nanoparticles demonstrate greater assay sensitivity in comparison to spherical nanoparticles. This approach can be applied to the assay of bacterial sensitivity to antibiotics in urine tract infections