Antimalarial nano-drug delivery system based on graphene quantum dot on Plasmodium falciparum: Preparation, characterization, toxicological evaluation

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 incor-porated 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 mu g/mL for GQD-Art/Chi, GQD-Mef/ Chi and GQD-Art-Mef/Chi, respectively. Cell culture study indicated that different concentrations of the prep-aration 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.

Automated summary

Malaria infects millions of people annually and drug resistance is a major obstacle to its elimination. Quantum dot-based nanocomposites were developed to increase the antimalarial effect of drugs. The release of drugs was controlled through crosslinking with graphene quantum dot and loading onto it. The prepared nanodrugs showed suitable efficacy against cultured Plasmodium falciparum.