The Potential Impact of Ayurvedic Traditional Bhasma on SARS-CoV- 2- Induced Pathogenesis

Abstract

Abstract: In India, the presently ongoing infectious COVID-19 wave is caused by the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 which has also led thousands of causalities across the globe. The government and healthcare agencies are hovering for effective strategies to counter the pandemic. The application of nanotechnology and repurposing of drugs are found an effective approach, not obsolete but partly in managing the COVID-19 disease. It has also immensely boomed the search of productive, reliable, cost-effective, and bio-assimilable alternative solutions. Since ancient times, the traditionally employed Ayurvedic bhasmas opted for diverse infectious diseases, which are now justified as a nanomedicine that could be applied for managing COVID-19 related health anomalies. Like currently existing engineered metal nanoparticles (NPs), the bhasma nanoparticles (BNPs) are also packed with unique physicochemical properties including multi-elemental nanocrystalline composition, size, shape, dissolution, surface charge, hydrophobicity, multi-pathway regulatory, and modulatory effects. Here, it is hypothesized that due to these conformational- and configurational- based physicochemical advantages, bhasma NPs might have promising potential to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and can reduce the incidence of pneumonia-like common lung infections in children as well as old-age-related inflammatory diseases by immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and adjuvant-related characteristics.