Nanoformulation Composed of Ellagic Acid and Functionalized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Inactivates DNA and RNA Viruses

AbouAitah, Khaled; Allayh, Abdou K.; Wojnarowicz, Jacek; Shaker, Yasser M.; Swiderska-Sroda, Anna; Lojkowski, Witold

doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics13122174

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Nanoformulation Composed of Ellagic Acid and Functionalized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Inactivates DNA and RNA Viruses

^1,2,*,†

⁴,

and

^1,*

Laboratory of Nanostructures and Nanomedicine, Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sokolowska St. 29/37, 01-142 Warsaw, Poland

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Department, Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research Institute, National Research Centre (NRC), 33 El–Behouth St., Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt

Environmental Virology Laboratory, Water Pollution Research Department, Environment and Climate Change Institute, National Research Centre (NRC), 33 El–Behouth St., Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt

⁴

Chemistry of Natural and Microbial Products Department, Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Institute, National Research Centre (NRC), 33 El–Behouth St., Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

Present address: National Research Centre (NRC), 33 El–Behouth St., Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt.

Academic Editor: Hyun-ouk Kim

Pharmaceutics 2021, 13(12), 2174; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13122174

Received: 18 November 2021 / Revised: 10 December 2021 / Accepted: 12 December 2021 / Published: 16 December 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology Applied in Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases)

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted daily life across the globe and caused millions of infections and deaths. No drug therapy has yet been approved for the clinic. In the current study, we provide a novel nanoformulation against DNA and RNA viruses that also has a potential for implementation against COVID-19. The inorganic–organic hybrid nanoformulation is composed of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) functionalized with triptycene organic molecules (TRP) via EDC/NHS coupling chemistry and impregnated with a natural agent, ellagic acid (ELG), via non-covalent interactions. The physicochemical properties of prepared materials were identified with several techniques. The hybrid nanoformulation contained 9.5 wt.% TRP and was loaded with up to 33.3 wt.% ELG. ELG alone exhibited higher cytotoxicity than both the ZnO NPs and nanoformulation against host cells. The nanoformulation efficiently inhibited viruses, compared to ZnO NPs or ELG alone. For H1N1 and HCoV-229E (RNA viruses), the nanoformulation had a therapeutic index of 77.3 and 75.7, respectively. For HSV-2 and Ad-7 (DNA viruses), the nanoformulation had a therapeutic index of 57.5 and 51.7, respectively. In addition, the nanoformulation showed direct inactivation of HCoV-229E via a virucidal mechanism. The inhibition by this mechanism was > 60%. Thus, the nanoformulation is a potentially safe and low-cost hybrid agent that can be explored as a new alternative therapeutic strategy for COVID-19. View Full-Text

Keywords: nanoformulation/delivery system; antiviral; H1N1/human coronavirus; zinc oxide nanoparticles; natural agents; ellagic acid

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AbouAitah, K.; Allayh, A.K.; Wojnarowicz, J.; Shaker, Y.M.; Swiderska-Sroda, A.; Lojkowski, W. Nanoformulation Composed of Ellagic Acid and Functionalized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Inactivates DNA and RNA Viruses. Pharmaceutics 2021, 13, 2174. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13122174

AMA Style

AbouAitah K, Allayh AK, Wojnarowicz J, Shaker YM, Swiderska-Sroda A, Lojkowski W. Nanoformulation Composed of Ellagic Acid and Functionalized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Inactivates DNA and RNA Viruses. Pharmaceutics. 2021; 13(12):2174. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13122174

Chicago/Turabian Style

AbouAitah, Khaled, Abdou K. Allayh, Jacek Wojnarowicz, Yasser M. Shaker, Anna Swiderska-Sroda, and Witold Lojkowski. 2021. "Nanoformulation Composed of Ellagic Acid and Functionalized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Inactivates DNA and RNA Viruses" Pharmaceutics 13, no. 12: 2174. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13122174

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Nanoformulation Composed of Ellagic Acid and Functionalized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Inactivates DNA and RNA Viruses

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