A team of researchers are looking at using quantum dots — very small semiconductor particles currently being used to transform electronic displays on televisions and tablets — as a topical treatment method for bacterial keratitis.
Some researchers have reportedly turned to using antibacterial nanomaterials as an alternative to steroid drops in treating bacterial keratitis. However, some of those substances are toxic to human cells. The research team reportedly wanted to develop a new treatment that would be easy to make and non-toxic.
This reportedly resulted in the creation of a one-step method to make carbon quantum dots by heating spermidine, resulting in a spermidine-coated quantum dot that could kill various bacterial strains, including those that are resistant to multiple drugs, in laboratory animals. The materials reportedly disrupt bacterial cells while leaving animal cells alone.
Researchers reportedly believe their new quantum dots are a potential alternative to conventional bacterial keratitis eye drop treatments.
The research was recently published in the journal ACS Nano.
Click here to read the full press release.
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Source: American Chemical Society