An overview of antimicrobial efficacy of curcumin-silver nanoparticles

With emerging novel microorganisms, there is an ongoing effort to find antimicrobial agents. The silver nanoparticle is a synthetic material with potent antimicrobial activity that applies to a diverse library of microorganisms. However, toxicity and safety concerns of chemically prepared silver nanoparticles toward human and environment limited the extensive industrial biomedical application of silver nanoparticles. On the other hand, curcumin is a natural phenolic compound of Indian spice turmeric that contains mild antimicrobial activity against various microorganisms. However, instability, poor absorption and low solubility of curcumin prevent its wide application in biomedical researches. Simultaneous application of these two materials is the subject of the provided manuscript. Curcumin formulation and silver nanoparticles can be applied separately or together, but the state of the art is applying curcumin for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles that represent a better biocidal activity and lower cytotoxicity in comparison to chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles.