Figure 12

Schematic presentation of mechanism of action of SWCNTS-Ag and pSWCNTs-Ag. Our results demonstrated that SWCNTs-Ag down-regulate some of the genes associated with metabolism and outer membrane integrity, however they are still toxic to human cells at their bactericidal concentration (62.5 μg/mL). On the other hand, pegylation of SWCNTs-Ag (pSWCNTs-Ag) did not affect their antibacterial activity (62.5 μg/mL), but reduced their toxicity to human cells. In addition, pSWCNTs down-regulated the expression of genes associated with quorum sensing, biofilm formation and virulence in Salmonella.