Polyethylene Glycol Functionalized Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles Loaded with Nigella sativa Extract: A Smart Antibacterial Therapeutic Drug Delivery System.

Mustafa A Jihad,Faizah A Almalki,Farah T M Noori,Majid S Jabir,Salim Albukhaty,Amal A Alyamani

doi:10.3390/molecules26113067

Abstract

Flaky graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using Hummer’s method and then capped with polyethylene glycol (PEG) by an esterification reaction, then loaded with Nigella sativa (N. sativa) seed extract. Aiming to investigate their potential use as a smart drug delivery system against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, the spectral and structural characteristics of GO-PEG NPs were comprehensively analyzed by XRD, AFM, TEM, FTIR, and UV- Vis. XRD patterns revealed that GO-PEG had different crystalline structures and defects, as well as a higher interlayer spacing. AFM results showed GONPs with the main grain size of 24.41 nm, while GONPs–PEG revealed graphene oxide aggregation with the main grain size of 287.04 nm after loading N. sativa seed extract, which was verified by TEM examination. A strong OH bond appeared in FTIR spectra. Furthermore, UV- Vis absorbance peaks at (275, 284, 324, and 327) nm seemed to be correlated with GONPs, GO–PEG, N. sativa seed extract, and GO –PEG- N. sativa extract. The drug delivery system was observed to destroy the bacteria by permeating the bacterial nucleic acid and cytoplasmic membrane, resulting in the loss of cell wall integrity, nucleic acid damage, and increased cell-wall permeability.

Highlights

The most promising carbon derivatives in material science are graphene oxide (GO) with excellent physical properties, biocompatibility, and chemical stability [1,2]
The blue line showed the functionalization of Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles (GONPs)–polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000 with a broad peak at 2θ = 23.38◦ with d–spacing (3.8 Å) which is results from functionalized while the peak of GONPs disappear because GONPs has an effect on the PEG molecular chain structure in the crystal lattice, disrupting the order of its crystallization
Flaky single-layer graphene oxide (GO) synthesis by Hummer’s method using rod graphite, polyethylene glycol (PEG4000) was capped with GONPs. This reaction happened between the graphene oxide (GO) carboxylic acid group and the polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydroxyl group to active (GO-COOH) using organic material and the results are GONPs–PEG smart drug delivery

Summary

Introduction

The most promising carbon derivatives in material science are graphene oxide (GO) with excellent physical properties, biocompatibility, and chemical stability [1,2]. A number of hydrophilic oxygen-containing functions in GO such as epoxy, hydroxyl, and carboxyl groups, have improved dispersibility in solvents as well as provide reactive sites for more functionalization by specific interactions which led to the evolution of smart nano carrier-based drug delivery system This system promises to apply drugs to specific bacterial strains [5,6] and used instead of chemotherapy as anti-cancer drugs [7]. Sativa) was obtained by loading the GO-PEG through π-stacking and was characterized using XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis, Raman, AFM, TEM, and FESEM. Both E. coli and S. aureus studied their biological activity by examining their effect on the bacteria’s cell-wall morphology, which was observed using SEM. The drug delivery system was observed to destroy bacteria by permeating the bacterial nucleic acid and cytoplasmic membrane, resulting in the loss of cell wall integrity, nucleic acid damage, and increased cell-wall permeability

Methods

Results

Conclusion