?Silicananoparticlesas antiviral agents?

TAMARA RODRÍGUEZ ALVAREZ; MARIELA AGOTEGARAY; DANIELA VILLAFAIN

Congreso; Nanomed-ar 2020 - First Zooming into Preclinical Nanomedicines in the Era of COVID-19; 2020

Asociaión Argentina de Nanomedicinas

Silica nanoparticles (Si-NPs) represent an important family of nanomaterials dealing with surface characteristics that impart versatility to diverse applications. In the biomedical field, they represent an important tool as drug loading and delivery platforms as well as agents for diagnosis by near infrared spectroscopy and fluorescence imaging. One of the features associated to these nanomaterials is their ability to interact with viruses being of utmost importance for the treatment of viral pathologies, decontamination of watercourses and for the interaction with antiviral agents to improve the efficiency of existing therapeutics.Synthesis of silica nanoparticles is based on Stöber method. Further modifications were introduced in last years to modify the surface with different functional groups. Depending on the applications needed, the conditions of the synthesis procedure may be selected. Conventional characterization techniques as FTIR, XRD, EDX, determination of hydrodynamic diameter and surface charge are suitable to determine physicochemical properties of these nanomaterials.Further studies support the idea of employing Si-NPs as a secure alternative for antiviral drug delivery. Due to their size and surface properties, SiNPs have a differential biocompatibility and lower cytotoxicity in comparison to other inorganic NPs. Analysis of in vitro assays focused on the effect of mesoporous and amorphous SiNPs against H5N1 influenza virus and Herpex simplex among others, demonstrate suitable properties as nanocarriers for specific antiviral drugs and also as antiviral agent by themselves. The efficiency of SiNPs to induce immunomodulation and their potential applications in vaccines, represent an appealing strategy to take into consideration in SARS-CoV- 2 pandemic.In summary, scientific information related to antiviral properties of SiNPs ensure that these nanomaterials present by themselves properties related to inactivation of different types of viruses. They also may act as nanocarriers for antiviral drugs, representing a promising tool for prevention and treatment of diverse diseases in this biomedical field.