In vivo toxicity and antibacterial assessment of Bi2Se3/GO/PVA nanocomposite synthesized via hydrothermal route

Abstract

Theranostic nanoparticles which incorporate therapeutic and diagnostic properties in a single dose have the potential to advance personalized therapy in biomedical area. In this research work, a nanotheranostic agent i.e., nanocomposites of Bismuth Selenide (Bi2Se3) and Graphene Oxide (GO) in the presence of poly (vinyl) alcohol (PVA) has been fabricated via hydrothermal route. The XRD pattern confirmed the formation of Bi2Se3/GO/PVA nanocomposites showing rhombohedral structure. The crystallite size and lattice strain were calculated by Scherrer formula, Williamson-Hall and Scherrer plot methods. Average crystallite size measured by these methods was 13.06 nm, 12.6 nm and 12.76 nm. UV–Vis spectroscopy was used to study the optical properties such as absorption regions and band gap of the prepared nanocomposites. FTIR and EDAX analysis also confirmed the successful fabrication of Bi2Se3/GO/PVA nanocomposites. SEM revealed sheet-like morphology of prepared nanocomposites. The antibacterial activity of the nanocomposites was studied against two gram-negative bacteria ‘Escherichia coli’ and ‘Pseudomonas’ at 15 μg/ml and 25 μg/ml concentrations by disk diffusion technique. The zone of inhibitions against E. coli at 15 μg/ml and 25 μg/ml were 13 mm and 17 mm while against Pseudomonas were 15 mm and 18 mm. Also, the in vivo toxicity of the prepared Bi2Se3/GO/PVA nanocomposites was investigated on Swiss Albino mice with a high dose of 20 mg/kg at a time period of 2, 7, 14 and 30 days by analyzing hematological, biochemistry and pathological tests. No severe damage was observed in mice during whole treatment time which ensures that the synthesized nanocomposites were non-toxic. Moreover, p-value was calculated which shows that our nanoparticles are safe and that the manufactured nanoparticles have no significant effect on mice. This research work shows that Bi2Se3/GO/PVA nanocomposites are biocompatible and can be further studied for different biomedical applications like CT imaging, Photoacoustic imaging as well as Photothermal therapy.