1. Graphene acid quantum dots: A highly active multifunctional carbon nano material that intervene in the trajectory towards neurodegeneration.
- Author
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ElMorsy SM, Gutierrez DA, Valdez S, Kumar J, Aguilera RJ, Noufal M, Sarma H, Chinnam S, and Narayan M
- Subjects
- Humans, Cell Line, Tumor, Neurodegenerative Diseases drug therapy, Neurodegenerative Diseases metabolism, Animals, Particle Size, Neuroprotective Agents pharmacology, Neuroprotective Agents chemistry, Carbon chemistry, Surface Properties, Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial drug effects, Quantum Dots chemistry, Graphite chemistry, Graphite pharmacology, Reactive Oxygen Species metabolism, Muramidase chemistry, Muramidase metabolism, Apoptosis drug effects
- Abstract
Carbon dots (CDs) are carbon nano materials (CNMs) that find use across several biological applications because of their water solubility, biocompatible nature, eco-friendliness, and ease of synthesis. Additionally, their physiochemical properties can be chemically tuned for further optimization towards specific applications. Here, we investigate the efficacy of C70-derived Graphene Acid Quantum Dots (GAQDs) in mitigating the transformation of soluble, monomeric Hen Egg-White Lysozyme (HEWL) to mature fibrils during its amyloidogenic trajectory. Our findings reveal that GAQDs exhibit dose-dependent inhibition of HEWL fibril formation (up to 70 % at 5 mg/mL) without affecting mitochondrial membrane potential or inducing apoptosis at the same density. Furthermore, GAQDs scavenged reactive oxygen species (ROS); achieving a 50 % reduction in ROS levels at a mere 100 µg/mL when exposed to a standard free radical generator. GAQDs were not only found to be biocompatible with a human neuroblastoma-derived SHSY-5Y cell line but also rescued the cells from rotenone-induced apoptosis. The GAQD-tolerance of SHSY-5Y cells coupled with their ability to restitute cells from rotenone-dependent apoptosis, when taken in conjunction with the biocompatibility data, indicate that GAQDs possess neuroprotective potential. The data position this class of CNMs as promising candidates for resolving aberrant cellular outputs that associate with the advent and progress of multifactorial neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson's (PD) and Alzheimer's diseases (AD) wherein environmental causes are implicated (95 % etiology). The data suggest that GAQDs are a multifunctional carbon-based sustainable nano-platform at the intersection of nanotechnology and neuroprotection for advancing green chemistry-derived, sustainable healthcare solutions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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