Curcumin-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles with dual-imaging and temperature control inhibits the infection of Zika virus

This study synthesized a temperature-controlled drug carrier with a dual-imaging function which when loaded in curcumin, inhibits the infection of Zika virus. The infection of Zika will lead to high fever, and the rise temperature in body is used to design a temperature-controlled release carrier, so that the drug can be released when symptoms occur. Curcumin is the drug we chose to inhibit the virus. To increase the solubility and biocompatibility of the drug, we loaded the drug into the pores of the drug carrier, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN), which had bonded to temperature -responding polymers(PEGMA) and doped magnetic and phosphorescence imaging metal ions (Eu3+ and Gd3+). The experiment will be divided into two parts. In the first part, mesoporous silica nanoparticles with dual-imaging function and temperature-controlled release and loaded curcumin (MSN-EuGd-PEGMA@Cur) were synthesized. First, Eu3+ and Gd3+ were doped into silica nanoparticles for imaging function. After the assembly formed, mesoporous silica nanoparticles with dual-imaging function (MSN-EuGd) can be obtained by calcining to removing the template. The synthesized MSN-EuGd will be modified with PEGMA on the surface and loaded with curcumin. The second part is comparing curcumin and MSN-EuGd-PEGMA@Cur for the ability of anti-virus. Finally, the temperature controlled drug carrier with dual-imaging function to inhibit Zika virus was completely synthesized.

Automated summary

This study synthesized a temperature-controlled drug carrier with a dual-imaging function loaded with curcumin to inhibit Zika virus infection. By loading the drug into mesoporous silica nanoparticles, the drug's solubility and biocompatibility were improved, allowing for release when body temperature rises. The experiment successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of the temperature-controlled drug carrier with dual-imaging function against Zika virus.