In vitro antiplasmodial activity of PDDS-coated metal oxide nanoparticles against Plasmodium falciparum

Malaria is the most important parasitic disease, leading to annual death of about one million people and the Plasmodium falciparum develops resistant to well-established antimalarial drugs. The newest antiplasmodial drug from metal oxide nanoparticles helps in addressing this problem. Commercial nanoparticles such as Fe3O4, MgO, ZrO2, Al2O3 and CeO2 coated with PDDS and all the coated and non-coated nanoparticles were screened for antiplasmodial activity against P. falciparum. The Al2O3 nanoparticles (71.42 ± 0.49 μg ml 1) showed minimum level of IC50 value and followed by MgO (72.33 ± 0.37 μg ml 1) and Fe3O4 nanoparticles (77.23 ± 0.42 μg ml 1). The PDDS-Fe3O4 showed minimum level of IC50 value (48.66 ± 0.45 μg ml 1), followed by PDDS-MgO (60.28 ± 0.42 μg ml 1) and PDDS-CeO2 (67.06 ± 0.61 μg ml 1). The PDDS-coated metal oxide nanoparticles showed superior antiplasmodial activity than the non-PDDS-coated metal oxide nanoparticles. Statistical analysis reveals that, significant in vitro antiplasmodial activity (P < 0.05) was observed between the concentrations and time of exposure. The chemical injury to erythrocytes showed no morphological changes in erythrocytes by the nanoparticles after 48 h of incubation. It is concluded from the present study that, the PDDS-Fe3O4 showed good antiplasmodial activity and it might be used for the development of antiplasmodial drugs.