Antiamoebic activity of plant-based natural products and their conjugated silver nanoparticles against Acanthamoeba castellanii (ATCC 50492)

Abstract Acanthamoeba spp. are the causative agent of Acanthamoeba keratitis and granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE). The current options to treat Acanthamoeba infections have limited success. Silver nanoparticles show antimicrobial effects and enhance the efficacy of their payload at the speci...

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Main Authors: Areeba Anwar, Elaine Lim Siew Ting, Ayaz Anwar, Noor ul Ain, Shaheen Faizi, Muhammad Raza Shah, Naveed Ahmed Khan, Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2020-02-01
Series:AMB Express
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13568-020-0960-9
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spelling doaj-4cf2dd06e29044b18307878a72379d8f2021-02-07T12:28:01ZengSpringerOpenAMB Express2191-08552020-02-0110111010.1186/s13568-020-0960-9Antiamoebic activity of plant-based natural products and their conjugated silver nanoparticles against Acanthamoeba castellanii (ATCC 50492)Areeba Anwar0Elaine Lim Siew Ting1Ayaz Anwar2Noor ul Ain3Shaheen Faizi4Muhammad Raza Shah5Naveed Ahmed Khan6Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui7Department of Biological Sciences, School of Science and Technology, Sunway UniversityDepartment of Biological Sciences, School of Science and Technology, Sunway UniversityDepartment of Biological Sciences, School of Science and Technology, Sunway UniversityDepartment of Chemistry, University of KarachiHEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of KarachiHEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of KarachiDepartment of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, American University of SharjahDepartment of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, American University of SharjahAbstract Acanthamoeba spp. are the causative agent of Acanthamoeba keratitis and granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE). The current options to treat Acanthamoeba infections have limited success. Silver nanoparticles show antimicrobial effects and enhance the efficacy of their payload at the specific biological targets. Natural folk plants have been widely used for treating diseases as the phytochemicals from several plants have been shown to exhibit amoebicidal effects. Herein, we used natural products of plant or commercial sources including quercetin (QT), kolavenic acid (PGEA) isolated from plant extracts of Polyalthia longifolia var pendula and crude plant methanolic extract of Caesalpinia pulcherrima (CPFLM) as antiacanthamoebic agents. Furthermore, these plant-based materials were conjugated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to determine the effects of the natural compounds and their nanoconjugates against a clinical isolate of A. castellanii from a keratitis patient (ATCC 50492) belonging to the T4 genotype. The compounds were conjugated with AgNPs and characterized by using ultraviolet visible spectrophotometry and atomic force microscopy. Quercetin coated silver nanoparticles (QT-AgNPs) showed characteristic surface plasmon resonance band at 443 nm and the average size distribution was found to be around 45 nm. The natural compounds alone and their nanoconjugates were tested for the viability of amoebae, encystation and excystation activity against A. castellanii. The natural compounds showed significant growth inhibition of A. castellanii while QT-AgNPs specifically exhibited enhanced antiamoebic effects as well as interrupted the encystation and excystation activity of the amoebae. Interestingly, these compounds and nanoconjugates did not exhibit in vitro cytotoxic effects against human cells. Plant-based compounds and extracts could be an interesting strategy in development of alternative therapeutics against Acanthamoeba infections.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13568-020-0960-9QuercetinPolyalthia longifoliaCaesalpinia pulcherrimaSilver nanoparticlesAntiamoebicAcanthamoeba
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Areeba Anwar
Elaine Lim Siew Ting
Ayaz Anwar
Noor ul Ain
Shaheen Faizi
Muhammad Raza Shah
Naveed Ahmed Khan
Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui
spellingShingle Areeba Anwar
Elaine Lim Siew Ting
Ayaz Anwar
Noor ul Ain
Shaheen Faizi
Muhammad Raza Shah
Naveed Ahmed Khan
Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui
Antiamoebic activity of plant-based natural products and their conjugated silver nanoparticles against Acanthamoeba castellanii (ATCC 50492)
AMB Express
Quercetin
Polyalthia longifolia
Caesalpinia pulcherrima
Silver nanoparticles
Antiamoebic
Acanthamoeba
author_facet Areeba Anwar
Elaine Lim Siew Ting
Ayaz Anwar
Noor ul Ain
Shaheen Faizi
Muhammad Raza Shah
Naveed Ahmed Khan
Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui
author_sort Areeba Anwar
title Antiamoebic activity of plant-based natural products and their conjugated silver nanoparticles against Acanthamoeba castellanii (ATCC 50492)
title_short Antiamoebic activity of plant-based natural products and their conjugated silver nanoparticles against Acanthamoeba castellanii (ATCC 50492)
title_full Antiamoebic activity of plant-based natural products and their conjugated silver nanoparticles against Acanthamoeba castellanii (ATCC 50492)
title_fullStr Antiamoebic activity of plant-based natural products and their conjugated silver nanoparticles against Acanthamoeba castellanii (ATCC 50492)
title_full_unstemmed Antiamoebic activity of plant-based natural products and their conjugated silver nanoparticles against Acanthamoeba castellanii (ATCC 50492)
title_sort antiamoebic activity of plant-based natural products and their conjugated silver nanoparticles against acanthamoeba castellanii (atcc 50492)
publisher SpringerOpen
series AMB Express
issn 2191-0855
publishDate 2020-02-01
description Abstract Acanthamoeba spp. are the causative agent of Acanthamoeba keratitis and granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE). The current options to treat Acanthamoeba infections have limited success. Silver nanoparticles show antimicrobial effects and enhance the efficacy of their payload at the specific biological targets. Natural folk plants have been widely used for treating diseases as the phytochemicals from several plants have been shown to exhibit amoebicidal effects. Herein, we used natural products of plant or commercial sources including quercetin (QT), kolavenic acid (PGEA) isolated from plant extracts of Polyalthia longifolia var pendula and crude plant methanolic extract of Caesalpinia pulcherrima (CPFLM) as antiacanthamoebic agents. Furthermore, these plant-based materials were conjugated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to determine the effects of the natural compounds and their nanoconjugates against a clinical isolate of A. castellanii from a keratitis patient (ATCC 50492) belonging to the T4 genotype. The compounds were conjugated with AgNPs and characterized by using ultraviolet visible spectrophotometry and atomic force microscopy. Quercetin coated silver nanoparticles (QT-AgNPs) showed characteristic surface plasmon resonance band at 443 nm and the average size distribution was found to be around 45 nm. The natural compounds alone and their nanoconjugates were tested for the viability of amoebae, encystation and excystation activity against A. castellanii. The natural compounds showed significant growth inhibition of A. castellanii while QT-AgNPs specifically exhibited enhanced antiamoebic effects as well as interrupted the encystation and excystation activity of the amoebae. Interestingly, these compounds and nanoconjugates did not exhibit in vitro cytotoxic effects against human cells. Plant-based compounds and extracts could be an interesting strategy in development of alternative therapeutics against Acanthamoeba infections.
topic Quercetin
Polyalthia longifolia
Caesalpinia pulcherrima
Silver nanoparticles
Antiamoebic
Acanthamoeba
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s13568-020-0960-9
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