The potential antimalarial efficacy of hemocompatible silver nanoparticles from Artemisia species against P. falciparum parasite

Abstract

Malaria represents one of the most common infectious diseases which becoming an impellent public health problem worldwide. Antimalarial classical medications include quininebased drugs, like chloroquine, and artesunate, a derivative of artemisinin, a molecule found in the plant Artemisia annua. Such therapeutics are very effective but show heavy side effects like drug resistance. In this study, "green" silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been prepared from two Artemisia species (A. abrotanum and A. arborescens), traditionally used in folk medicine as a remedy for different conditions, and their potential antimalarial efficacy have been assessed. AgNPs have been characterized by UV-Vis, dynamic light scattering and zeta potential, FTIR, XRD, TEM and EDX. The structural characterization has demonstrated the spheroidal shape of nanoparticles and dimensions under 50 nm, useful for biomedical studies. Zeta potential analysis have shown the stability and dispersion of green AgNPs in aqueous medium without aggregation. AgNPs hemocompatibility and antimalarial activity have been studied in Plasmodium falciparum cultures in in vitro experiments. The antiplasmodial effect has been assessed using increasing doses of AgNPs (0.6 to 7.5 μg/ mL) on parasitized red blood cells (pRBCs). Obtained data showed that the hemocompatibility of AgNPs is related to their synthetic route and depends on the administered dose. A. abrotanum-AgNPs (1) have shown the lowest percentage of hemolytic activity on pRBCs, underlining their hemocompatibility. These results are in accordance with the lower levels of parasitemia observed after A. abrotanum-AgNPs (1) treatment respect to A. arborescens-AgNPs (2), and AgNPs (3) derived from a classical chemical synthesis. Moreover, after 24 and 48 hours of A. abrotanum-AgNPs (1) treatment, the parasite growth was locked in the ring stage, evidencing the effect of these nanoparticles to hinder the maturation of P. falciparum. The anti-malarial activity of A. abrotanum-AgNPs (1) on pRBCs was demonstrated to be higher than that of A. arborescens-AgNPs (2).

Silver Nanoparticles as Carriers of Anticancer Drugs for Efficient Target Treatment of Cancer Cells

“…Their optical, biological characteristics, and high electrical conductivity can be highlighted [2]. The AgNPs proved to be useful in industrial and health products, such as coating of medical devices [23], biosensors [24], in bio-imaging [25], as antibacterial [8], antifungal [26], antiparasitic [27], antiviral [28], anticancer agents [29], and as drug carriers [30], among other applications. Silver nanoparticles have been extensively studied and recognized as useful tools in therapeutics [22], since they have a high surface/volume ratio, ease of synthesis, tunable surface chemistry and surface functionalization, and good penetration and traceability in the organism.…”

Silver Nanoparticles Derived by Artemisia arborescens Reveal Anticancer and Apoptosis-Inducing Effects

“…A good way to do this is to control the pH of the solution in which the nanoparticles are synthesized, knowing that in general higher pH corresponds to smaller particles [25]. Consequently, a procedure already in use was modified to control the dimension of the AgNPs by tuning the pH in solution [26]. Hence, three different batches of Artemisia-AgNPs have been prepared at distinct pH values (7, 8, and 9) in order to examine whether, as expected, the pH change was able to modify their size, but also to influence their capping and, therefore, their biological behavior.…”

Artemisia abrotanum L. (Southern Wormwood)—History, Current Knowledge on the Chemistry, Biological Activity, Traditional Use and Possible New Pharmaceutical and Cosmetological Applications

“…measured IC 50 of different silver nanoparticles. The results demonstrated that A. abrotanum -AgNPs displayed better antiplasmodial effect considering 50%, 90% and 99% inhibition concentrations [ 68 ].…”