Antiviral properties of titanium nanoparticles and features of their influence on the morphology of virions

Abstract

The search for new antiviral substances and the development of modern antiviral preparations and disinfectants is an important area of modern science. Nanoparticles (NPs) and nanomaterials (NMs) have received increasing attention from scientists as promising antiviral substances recently. Our study aimed to investigate the antiviral activity of citrate-stabilized titanium nanoparticles (Ti NPs) against Teschovirus A (TV-A) and Potato virus Y (PVY). The biological activity of PVY has been tested using cultivated tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and bell pepper plants (Capsicum annum L.). It has been found that injection of plants with the virus has led to the appearance of PVY infection symptoms with further death of the plants. The threshold limit value (TLV) for Ti NPs in embryonic pig kidney cell line culture is 12.5 µg/cm3. According to the prophylactic and treatment plots, Ti NPs have slight antiviral activity against TV-A strain Dniprovskyi 34, decreasing its titer according to both plots by 0.5 lg TCD50/cm3. However, according to the virucidal plot at TLV concentration, Ti NPs show high antiviral activity against TV-A strain Dniprovskyi 34, significantly decreasing its titer in embryonic pig kidney cell line culture by 4.46 lg TCD50/cm3. Ti NPs do not have antiviral activity against PVY, according to the prophylactic and treatment plots. Nevertheless, according to the virucidal plot Ti NPs showed high antiviral activity against PVY, inactivating the virus in the reaction mixture in vitro. According to the results of TEM, Ti NPs bind to virus particles. Virus particles with NPs attached to them, deformed and partially destroyed virus particles have been found in samples of virus-containing suspension, which were incubated with Ti NPs. We suggest that Ti NPs are useful as disinfectants to control viral infections, particularly TV-A and PVY.