Antiviral Activity of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles and Tetrapods Against the Hepatitis E and Hepatitis C Viruses

Abstract

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) causes an acute, self-limiting hepatitis. The disease takes a severe form in pregnant women, leading to around 30% mortality. Zinc is an essential micronutrient that plays a crucial role in multiple cellular processes. Our earlier findings demonstrated the antiviral activity of zinc salts against HEV infection. Zinc oxide (ZnO) and its nanostructures have attracted marked interest due to their unique characteristics. Here we synthesized ZnO nanoparticles [ZnO(NP)] and tetrapod-shaped ZnO nanoparticles [ZnO(TP)] and evaluated their antiviral activity. Both ZnO(NP) and ZnO(TP) displayed potent antiviral activity against hepatitis E and hepatitis C viruses, with the latter being more effective. Measurement of cell viability and intracellular reactive oxygen species levels revealed that both ZnO(NP) and ZnO(TP) are noncytotoxic to the cells even at significantly higher doses, compared to a conventional zinc salt (ZnSO4). Our study paves the way for evaluation of the potential therapeutic benefit of ZnO(TP) against HEV and HCV.

Antibacterial and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of ZnO Nanoparticles Synthesized by a Green Method Using Sargassum Extracts

“…In this sense, the synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) [ 4 ], nanowires [ 5 ], nanostars [ 6 ], and nanoflowers [ 7 ] have been reported. ZnO nanoparticles have been widely studied due to their catalytic [ 8 ], antibacterial [ 9 ], and antiviral [ 10 ] properties, which largely depend on their size and morphology. These characteristics can be controlled by varying experimental parameters, such as temperature, concentration, and rate of addition of the reagents involved.…”

Colloidal Solutions as Advanced Coatings for Active Packaging Development: Focus on PLA Systems

“…Metal and metal oxide nanoparticles are the most studied class of antiviral nanoparticles that form multimolecular colloidal systems [ 135 ]. Zinc oxide nanoparticles have been studied extensively by various researchers and show antiviral activity [ 136 , 137 ].…”

Nano-antivirals: A comprehensive review

“…Zinc is also known for its antiviral activities against different viruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS CoV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis E virus (HEV) rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), and equine arteritis virus (EAV) (Korant et al, 1974;Haraguchi et al, 1999;Suara and Crowe, 2004;Te Velthuis et al, 2010;Kaushik et al, 2017). Gupta et al (2022) studied the antiviral activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles and tetrapod-shaped zinc oxide nanoparticles against hepatitis C and hepatitis E viruses. The synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles successfully inhibit viral replication.…”

“…It is a mediator of lipopolysaccharides in bacteria (LPS) and toll-like receptor 4-(TLR 4 -) dependent myeloid differentiation primary response protein 88 (MyD88) that activates nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). As a result, the production of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factorα (TNFα) occurs, which controls viral pathogens (Haase et al, 2008;Brieger et al, 2013;Gupta et al, 2022). In another study, El-Megharbel et al (2021) synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles, and the antiviral activity of synthesized particles was checked against SARS-CoV-2.…”