Using C60 fullerenes for photodynamic inactivation of mosquito iridescent viruses.

This article describes the photodynamic inactivation of mosquito iridescent virus (MIV) Aedes flavescens in the presence of water-soluble C(60) fullerenes. It has been observed that the photodynamic inactivation of MIV for about 1 h reduces the infectious titre of the virus in large wax-moth larvae Galleria mellonella to 4.5 lg ID(50)/mL. The influence of the C(60) concentration on its anti-viral activity was tested in the concentration range from 1 to 0.001 mg/mL. It has been found that C(60) is able to inactivate the iridovirus even in low concentrations. Consequently, the findings of this work suggest that photoexcited C(60) fullerenes can be successfully used for the inactivation of iridoviruses in biological systems.