Abstract
BackgroundThe recent emergence in Southeast Asia of artemisinin resistance poses major threats to malaria control and elimination globally. Green nanotechnologies can constitute interesting tools for discovering anti-malarial medicines. This systematic review focused on the green synthesis of metal nanoparticles as potential source of new antiplasmodial drugs.MethodsSeven electronic database were used following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.ResultsA total of 17 papers were included in the systematic review. 82.4% of the studies used plant leaves to produce nanoparticles (NPs) while three studies used microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi. Silver was the main metal precursor for the synthesis of NPs. The majority of studies obtained nanoparticles spherical in shape, with sizes ranging between 4 and 65 nm, and reported no or little cytotoxic effect of the NPs. Results based on 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) varied between studies but, in general, could be divided into three NP categories; (i) those more effective than positive controls, (ii) those more effective than corresponding plant extracts and, (iii) those less effective than the positive controls or plant extracts.ConclusionsThis study highlights the high antiplasmodial potential of green-synthesized metal nanoparticles thereby underscoring the possibility to find and develop new anti-malarial drugs based on green synthesis approaches. However, the review also highlights the need for extensive in vitro and in vivo studies to confirm their safety in humans and the elucidation of the mechanism of action.Graphical abstract
Highlights
The recent emergence in Southeast Asia of artemisinin resistance poses major threats to malaria control and elimination globally
In 2015, nearly 9.2 million deaths occurred in Africa with 56.4% being due to communicable, maternal, perinatal or nutritional conditions and, malaria ranked as one of the most devastating infectious diseases characterized by intermittent high fevers, severe anaemia, convulsions, neurological complications such as brain injury and coma [1]
Characteristics of the studies included in the review In total, 17 studies were eligible based on the selection process summarized in Fig. 1 [47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63]
Summary
The recent emergence in Southeast Asia of artemisinin resistance poses major threats to malaria control and elimination globally. Green nanotechnologies can constitute interesting tools for discovering anti-malarial medicines. This systematic review focused on the green synthesis of metal nanoparticles as potential source of new antiplasmodial drugs. In 2015, nearly 9.2 million deaths occurred in Africa with 56.4% being due to communicable, maternal, perinatal or nutritional conditions and, malaria ranked as one of the most devastating infectious diseases characterized by intermittent high fevers, severe anaemia, convulsions, neurological complications such as brain injury and coma [1]. Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium knowlesi, and Plasmodium cynomolgi are other species that infect or cause disease in humans [2,3,4]. Malaria remains a very important public health problem, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where the disease has significantly delayed economic development. In 2017, approximately 219 million malaria cases and 435,000 related deaths were recorded worldwide; the majority (92%) of which occurred in sub-Saharan Africa [3]
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