Silver nanoparticles in biomedicine: green synthesis, precision theranostics, and future clinical translation

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely explored in biomedical sciences due to their unique physicochemical properties and high surface reactivity, enabling diverse applications in diagnostics and therapeutics. This review highlights recent advances in the green synthesis of AgNPs and their biomedical relevance, with emphasis on translational potential. Biogenic synthesis of AgNPs using natural resources such as plant extracts offer eco-friendly and cost-effective alternatives, where bioactive phytochemicals contribute to the nanoparticle stabilization and functional properties. AgNPs have demonstrated potent antimicrobial, antiviral, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and wound-healing activities, and their integration into targeted drug delivery and bioimaging platforms enhances therapeutic efficiency and disease monitoring. Advanced characterization techniques, have facilitated the understanding of AgNPs structure, morphology, and surface chemistry, enabling the design of application-specific AgNPs. Despite these advances, challenges including variability in synthesis, limited reproducibility, cytotoxicity, and uncertain biodistribution remain key barriers to clinical application. Addressing these limitations with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning could optimize their synthesis, predict biological interactions, and accelerate their translation to clinical applications. Overall, this review highlights that while green-synthesized AgNPs offer significant biomedical potential, improved standardization, safety evaluation, and translational strategies are essential for their successful clinical implementation.