The antiviral activity of cerium and lanthanum nanooxides modified with silver

Abstract

Today, the antiviral activity of oxide nanomaterials can be used in the fight against the viral disease COVID-19. It is thought that Ag nanoparticles may bind to the surface glycoprotein of the virus and interfere with the virus’s interaction with epithelial cells, and inhibit virus reproduction by releasing silver ions in the cell. The viruses’ inhibition with RNA (ribonucleic acid) and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) genomes by oxide nanocomposites action was presented. In this research, the surface structure of doped CeO2 (La2O3) was studied by nitrogen adsorption-desorption based on BET method. The silver atom’s existence in CeO2 - Ag0 can facilitate the transport of more holes to the surface and can enhance the optical, antivirus activity. The primary particle size of pure cerium dioxide is 7 nm, for CeO2 - Ag composite at 2 and 4 wt. % of silver is 6.5 and 6.9 nm; for La2O3 - Ag 27 and 35 nm, respectively. Cell viability was assessed using an MTT (3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol 2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay after NPs (nanoparticles) exposure, since only viable cells have functional mitochondrial dehydrogenase enzymes that can reduce MTT to formazan. Nanoparticles were non-toxic for BHK-21(Syrian hamster kidney), Hep-2 (Human larynx carcinoma), and MDCK (Canine kidney) cells in concentrations of 10 and 100 μg/ml, while cell viability was within 76÷100 %. La2O3 and CeO2, which contained 4 wt. % of Ag at a concentration of 1000 μg/ml had a lower toxic effect: for BHK-21 cells 68 and 76 % of viable cells, respectively; for Hep-2 - 40 and 36 %, for MDCK - 42 and 48 %; La2O3 and CeO2 with 2 and 5 wt. % of Ag at a concentration of 1000 µg/ml were highly toxic. The level of ВНК-21, Нер-2, and MDCK cells viability was in a range of 7 to 37 %. It has been stated that oxides of cerium and lanthanum have a pronounced virucidal action against the Herpes simplex virus and Influenza A virus by completely inhibiting the development of its cytopathic action. The lanthanum and cerium oxides with 2 and 5 wt. % of silver inhibited the development of the virus’s CPE by more than 5.0 log10 compared to the virus control. The results show that lanthanum and cerium oxides with 2 and 5 wt. % silver have a high virucidal effect against herpes simplex virus type 1. A 1.0÷4.0 log10 reduction in the infectious titer of the Herpes virus synthesized “de novo” in the presence of lanthanum and cerium oxide nanocomposites has been shown.