Boyoglu S., Vig K., Pfendt A., Pillai S., Willing G.A., Singh S.R.
Alabama State University, US
Keywords: AFM, gold, nanoparticles, silver
Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) causes severe lower respiratory tract infections in infants which may progress to pneumonia. RSV accounts for approximately 4,500 deaths and 90,000 hospitalizations in infants and children in the United States each year. In the present study, we used AFM to observe the inhibitory effect of gold and silver nanoparticles on the RSV virus. Our results suggest that RSV particles are almost spherical in shape as detected by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Even though the dimensions of the RSV particle exhibited a polymorphous distribution via off-line particle analysis of AFM, most of the RSV particles had a uniform diameter of approximate 87nm. When we mixed RSV with gold nanoparticles, we observed that gold nanoparticles were aggregated around RSV virions, which start shrinking in size. Further, infection studies with either RSV alone or RSV mixed with gold and silver nanoparticles were performed in Hep-2 cells. Infected cells were fixed at different time intervals (30min, 1h, 4h, 8h, 16h, 24h, 36h, and 48h post infection) to observe RSV entry into the cells and propagation of the infection. We are currently analyzing the effect of gold and silver nanoparticles on RSV infection in HEp-2 cell lines.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Nanotechnology 2009: Life Sciences, Medicine, Diagnostics, Bio Materials and Composites
Published: May 3, 2009
Pages: 146 - 149
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Medical & Biotech
Topics: Biomaterials, Cancer Nanotechnology
ISBN: 978-1-4398-1783-4