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In nanotechnology fungi have been identified as excellent candidates for the production of nanoparticles (NPs), thus presenting a cleaner alternative to produce new materials with a wide range of potential applications in biomedicine and industry. In this respect, several species have demonstrated excellent bio-reducing capacity to produce metallic NPs, presenting a number of advantages over other biological systems such as a rapid growth rate, simple nutrient requirements, and easy handling of biomass/cultures. Furthermore, they secrete proteins that are assumed to have enhanced reducing and stabilizing capacity (Prasad et al. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 8:316–330, 2016). Recent investigations have reported the potential medical applications of fungal-mediated NPs, particularly silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for their excellent antimicrobial activity. Fungal-mediated AgNPs (FM-AgNPs) have demonstrated successful inhibition against microorganisms that cause infectious diseases in humans, even over those considered multiresistant to conventional antimicrobial drugs. Despite the advances in this field, there is still much work to be done, particularly in finding new biomolecules to improve the biocompatibility of the produced nanomaterial. In this chapter the state of the art in FM-AgNPs against human pathogens is reviewed. |
