Magnetic nanoparticles are highly toxic to chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum, dengue virus (DEN-2), and their mosquito vectors

Murugan K 1 , Wei J 2 , Alsalhi MS 3 , Nicoletti M 4 , Paulpandi M 1 , Samidoss CM 1 Show all authors , Dinesh D 1 , Chandramohan B 1 , Paneerselvam C 5 , Subramaniam J 1 , Vadivalagan C 1 , Wei H 6 , Amuthavalli P 1 , Jaganathan A 1 , Devanesan S 3 , Higuchi A 7 , Kumar S 8 , Aziz AT 5 , Nataraj D 9 , Vaseeharan B 10 , Canale A 11 , Benelli G 12

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641 046, Tamil Nadu, India
  • 2 College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, People's Republic of China
  • 3 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Research Chair in Laser Diagnosis of Cancer, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
  • 4 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
  • 5 Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, 71491, Saudi Arabia
  • 6 Institute of Plant Protection, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350013, China
  • 7 Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Central University, No. 300 Jhongli, Taoyuan, 32001, Taiwan
  • 8 Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
  • 9 Department of Physics, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641046, Tamil Nadu, India
  • 10 Biomaterials and Biotechnology in Animal Health Lab, Department of Animal Health and Management, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630004, Tamil Nadu, India
  • 11 Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy
  • 12 Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy. benelli.giovanni@gmail.com
Parasitol Res, 2017 Feb;116(2):495-502.
PMID: 27815736 DOI: 10.1007/s00436-016-5310-0

Abstract

A main challenge in parasitology is the development of reliable tools to prevent or treat mosquito-borne diseases. We investigated the toxicity of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) produced by Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense (strain MSR-1) on chloroquine-resistant (CQ-r) and sensitive (CQ-s) Plasmodium falciparum, dengue virus (DEN-2), and two of their main vectors, Anopheles stephensi and Aedes aegypti, respectively. MNP were studied by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. They were toxic to larvae and pupae of An. stephensi, LC50 ranged from 2.563 ppm (1st instar larva) to 6.430 ppm (pupa), and Ae. aegypti, LC50 ranged from 3.231 ppm (1st instar larva) to 7.545 ppm (pupa). MNP IC50 on P. falciparum were 83.32 μg ml(-1) (CQ-s) and 87.47 μg ml(-1) (CQ-r). However, the in vivo efficacy of MNP on Plasmodium berghei was low if compared to CQ-based treatments. Moderate cytotoxicity was detected on Vero cells post-treatment with MNP doses lower than 4 μg ml(-1). MNP evaluated at 2-8 μg ml(-1) inhibited DEN-2 replication inhibiting the expression of the envelope (E) protein. In conclusion, our findings represent the first report about the use of MNP in medical and veterinary entomology, proposing them as suitable materials to develop reliable tools to combat mosquito-borne diseases.

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