Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, 20224, Taiwan.
Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, 11221, Taiwan.
Small. 2019 Oct;15(41):e1902641. doi: 10.1002/smll.201902641. Epub 2019 Aug 29.
It is demonstrated that carbon quantum dots derived from curcumin (Cur-CQDs) through one-step dry heating are effective antiviral agents against enterovirus 71 (EV71). The surface properties of Cur-CQDs, as well as their antiviral activity, are highly dependent on the heating temperature during synthesis. The one-step heating of curcumin at 180 °C preserves many of the moieties of polymeric curcumin on the surfaces of the as-synthesized Cur-CQDs, resulting in superior antiviral characteristics. It is proposed that curcumin undergoes a series of structural changes through dehydration, polymerization, and carbonization to form core-shell CQDs whose surfaces remain a pyrolytic curcumin-like polymer, boosting the antiviral activity. The results reveal that curcumin possesses insignificant inhibitory activity against EV71 infection in RD cells [half-maximal effective concentration (EC ) >200 µg mL ] but exhibits high cytotoxicity toward RD cells (half-maximal cytotoxic concentration (CC ) <13 µg mL ). The EC (0.2 µg mL ) and CC (452.2 µg mL ) of Cur-CQDs are >1000-fold lower and >34-fold higher, respectively, than those of curcumin, demonstrating their far superior antiviral capabilities and high biocompatibility. In vivo, intraperitoneal administration of Cur-CQDs significantly decreases mortality and provides protection against virus-induced hind-limb paralysis in new-born mice challenged with a lethal dose of EV71.
研究表明，通过一步干法加热从姜黄素中得到的碳量子点（Cur-CQDs）是一种有效的抗肠道病毒 71 型（EV71）的抗病毒药物。Cur-CQDs 的表面性质及其抗病毒活性高度依赖于合成过程中的加热温度。姜黄素在 180°C 的一步加热保留了合成的 Cur-CQDs 表面上聚合姜黄素的许多部分，从而具有优异的抗病毒特性。据推测，姜黄素通过脱水、聚合和碳化经历了一系列的结构变化，形成了核壳结构的 CQDs，其表面仍然是热解姜黄素样聚合物，从而提高了抗病毒活性。结果表明，姜黄素对 RD 细胞中的 EV71 感染几乎没有抑制活性（半数有效浓度（EC ）>200μg mL ），但对 RD 细胞具有很高的细胞毒性（半数细胞毒性浓度（CC ）<13μg mL ）。Cur-CQDs 的 EC （0.2μg mL ）和 CC （452.2μg mL ）分别比姜黄素低 1000 多倍和高 34 倍，这表明它们具有优异的抗病毒能力和良好的生物相容性。在体内，腹腔注射 Cur-CQDs 可显著降低死亡率，并为新生小鼠提供保护，使其免受致死剂量 EV71 感染引起的后肢瘫痪。
