Silverlon™ Discussion
Antimicrobial Action of Silver / Methods of Action

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Participants:

Dr. Bart Flick MD,Argentum Medical, LLC
Ivan Anderson
Stephen Quinto, Natural-Immunogenics Corp.
References to specific names of persons outside of the discussion have been abbreviated.

Source: [email protected]
Original Source Format: Four messages between participants
Edited: Reformatted, emphasis ours, spelling, small linguistic modifications, greetings removed
Copyrights: Content under public domain. HTML copyright 2001 The CSDW, rights reserved, released for noncommercial applications except by participants whom have unlimited rights.

Items both in brackets and italicized are editor additions to the text.

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A.B.Flick MD:

My partner and CEO of Argentum Medical, Mr. Gregg Silver, asked that I comment on recent E-mails. With respect to Mr A's comments 24 August 2001:

1. The antimicrobial activity of silver rests upon the interaction of silver with the bacteria's cellular membrane. This interaction can occur through the presence of a silver ion in solution or the release of silver in an ionic moiety directly from the surface of metalic silver when a bacterial cell membrane comes in direct contact with the metallic surface. With respect to Silverlon the antimicrobial activity is a result of free silver ions (released through a silver oxide intermediate) in solution interacting with the bacterial cell membrane or through direct contact of the bacterial cell membrane on the metallic surface. The metallic surface area of Silverlon is at least 1000 fold greater that the geometric surface area of the fabric due to the uniform circumferential plating of metallic silver to the polymer substrate and the molecular terrain ( shown on tunneling electron microscope ). As with the reference to water filtration, the name of the game in antimicrobial activity is surface area.

2. Driving silver ions via an electrical gradient increases the ionic silver release between 4 to 8 fold as well as the depth of penetration of silver ions into the surrrounding tissue. Bimetallic application is directly dependent upon the surface area of the bimetallic junctions with metals more noble that silver (i.e. gold platinum etc) but not less noble (i.e. copper).

3. The patents will give one only a brief overview.

4. Silver ions in the proper concentration cause fibroblasts to alter their normal cellular morphology. To say that silver ions create stem cells is unfounded from my reading of the literature and my work over the past 25 years.

With respect to M's comments 24 August 2001:

1. The finger tip amputation case was my patient. The tip was amputated through the lower third of the nailbed with the nail matrix intact.

2. With respect to amputated finger tips in children, please refer to the Illingsworth paper in the early 1970's. The key to understanding this case rests with understanding the basic mechanisms of maintaining a "blastema". From my experience three key elements are essential: (1) proper moisture levels, (2) proper conductivity and (3) proper control of wound bioburden.

With respect to S's comments 24 August 2001:

1. Agree that all silver containing products are NOT equal.

2. With reference to Dr. Becker statements, I do not feel that the comments as quoted are completely correct. While a medical student in the 1970's, I had the opportunity to work in Dr. Becker's lab. I have the greatest respect for his creativity and intelligence. But I stand behind my comments referenced above.

With kind regards,

Bart Flick M.D.

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IA:

And might I say, I think you have a marvelous product in Silverlon, and wish you every success with it, not least for the relief it will bring those unfortunate enough to require its use.

Sir, I grave your indulgence for a moment. I am most interested in the development of silver oxide, that you mention, I presume at the silver/liquid interface. Does this involve the presence of dissolved oxygen gas, and will this occur in plain water or are biological fluids required? I believe that the discovery of this phenomenon gave rise to the term oligodynamic, and that some investigation has been done on this subject in the past, but I have been unable to find any reference to this so far.

You also mention the direct contact of pathogen cell walls with the silver metal. Does this result in the bonding of a silver ion to cell wall sites, the catalytic oxidation by adsorbed oxygen, or perhaps both?

And at the risk of asking you too much...we have been debating the merits of ingesting colloidal silver with a high ionic content vs. a colloidal silver with a high elemental silver content. If you have some knowledge of the subject, could you comment upon the absorption, and efficacy of the two, and whether we can expect to find multi-atom clusters which have lost electrons, and are thus positively charged, in a colloidal silver solution?

Many thanks!

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Bart Flick MD:

Brief thoughts provided to your questions:

1. The silver oxide intermediate requires dissolved oxygen.

2. The oligodynamic action of silver release may occur in plain water or biological fluids.

3. More free silver ions are available in plain water because there are less reactive molecular species to react with.

4. Reference on oligodynamic can be found in the literature between 1890 and 1910.

5. The reaction of the metallic silver surface and the bacterial cell wall is most likely a reduction oxidation process to a major extent and a non-covalent reaction to a minor extent. The silver oxide imtermediate is probably not a factor with respect to the solubility factors of silver oxide.

6.The debate between ionic versus elemental silver rests with accurate data via atomic absorption spectroscopy to determine the actual percentages of ionic versus elemental, and with electron microscopy. There is a lot of speculation but very little hard data. Please understand that silver can have an effect in an ionic form and a metalic form. The better of the two forms is not possible for me to know based upon the data.

Bart Flick M.D.

[ The debate between ionic vs. elemental silver is largely academic to most colloidal silver users at this time. Nearly all colloidal silver generation processes that create an isolated silver product contain both silver particles and silver ions. However, understanding how each work in the body is a key element in learning how to manufacture a superior product.
Silverlon is an extremely advanced FDA approved wound dressing that uses a nylon dressing coated with a special silver formulation, which by its design, releases silver ions directly into the treated tissues. The reader will find plenty of worthwhile information at Silverlon's website ]

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Stephen Quinto:

With respect to the controversy -- whether particulate (elemental) or ionic silver is more effective -- we'd like you to know that we have taken the decision to provide such an 'analytical service' (offered through our website) that may be instrumental in making this evaluation. The 'paper' shown on the website (as an example) reflects the experience gained over the last 18 months. We cannot claim it is definitive, but the methodology described is straightforward. You can evaluate it for yourselves. We believe this to be one means to get a reasonable perspective over the issue.

[ Stephen Quinto, founder of Natural-Immunogenics Corp., is a pioneer in the field of colloidal silver production and has achieved an unprecedented level of command over the ionic silver generation process. One of his capping achievements is the ability to produce an isolated silver product with near-uniform dispersion of silver in an H2O medium. ]