Antimalarial Nano-Drug Delivery System Based on Graphene Quantum Dot on Plasmodium Falciparum: Preparation, Characterization, Toxicological Evaluation Publisher



Torkashvand H¹ ; Dehdast SA^{2, 3} ; Nateghpour M⁴ ; Haghi AM⁴ ; Fard GC^{2, 3, 5} ; Elmi T⁶ ; Shabani M² ; Tabatabaie F¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Diamond and Related Materials Published:2023

Abstract

Malaria infects millions of people every year. Emerging drug resistance in many strains of Plasmodium falciparum against the currently used antimalarial is one of the major obstacles in the way of elimination of falciparum malaria infection. Quantum dot is a fluorescent nanocrystal that has been in the spotlight as a practical tool for the visualization of live cell processes and creating a nano-sized controlled release system. We tried to incorporated artesunate (Art), mefloquine (Mef) alone, chitosan (chi), and in combination (Art-Mef) form in the graphene quantum dot (GQD)-based nanocomposites to increase the antimalarial effect of the against. Release of the drugs became optimized by crosslinking the drugs with GQD and their eventual incorporation into the nanodrugs. Release of the drugs was also controlled loading on GQD. Results showed that the release of drugs were continued during 98 %, 96 % and 90 % (36 h) for GQD-Art/Chi, GQD-Mef/Chi and GQD-Art-Mef/Chi, respectively. The prepared nanodrugs had an IC50s of 9.2, 18.6 and 3.6 μg/mL for GQD-Art/Chi, GQD-Mef/Chi and GQD-Art-Mef/Chi, respectively. Cell culture study indicated that different concentrations of the preparation nano-drugs had not any toxicity against the PC12 cell line. It was concluded that the prepared nanodrugs had a suitable effect on the cultured P. falciparum in this study. © 2022