In vitro antiprotozoal activity of poly(rhodanine)-coated zinc oxide nanoparticles against Trichomonas gallinae

Abstract

Recently utilization of nanoparticles in biological application has been increased due to their enhanced performance in drug delivery, anti-microbial and antiparasitic application. Researchers who work on developing new functional materials by antiparasitic properties are suffering from the lack of specific protocols for in-vitro investigation. In addition, investigation of nanoparticles performance by SEM & TEM could help us to assess their mechanism of action. Most of researchers have problem in preparing biological samples for SEM & TEM analysis. In the present study, pure ZnO nanoparticles and poly(rhodanine)-coated ZnO nanoparticles were truly synthesized and characterized. The antiparasitic activities of both nanoparticles were tested against Trichomonas gallinae parasite in vitro. The average sizes of uncoated and poly(rhodanine)-coated ZnO nanoparticles were 66.1 and 161.9 nm, respectively and a significant reduction for viability (p < 0.01) was observed for poly(rhodanine)-coated ZnO nanoparticles against Trichomonas gallinae. Moreover, the inhibitory concentration for 2 hours (IC50-2h) of pure ZnO nanoparticles and poly(rhodanine)-coated ZnO nanoparticles for this parasite was 2.5 and 10 mg/mL, respectively. Accordingly, these NPs could be suggested as a new nanoagent for safe and effective treatment of Trichomonas gallinae parasites. In addition SEM analysis was utilized to investigate the interaction of Trichomonas gallinae cell and poly(rhodanine)-coated ZnO nanoparticles.