Chitosan-Coated Selenium Nanoparticles Attenuate PRRSV Replication and ROS/JNK-Mediated Apoptosis in vitro

Chunyan Shao,1– 5,* Ziwei Yu,1– 5,* Tongwang Luo,1– 5,* Bin Zhou,1– 5 Quanjiang Song,1– 5 Zhuoyue Li,1– 5 Xiaoqiang Yu,1– 5 Sheng Jiang,1– 5 Yingshan Zhou,1– 5 Wanyu Dong,1– 5 Xingdong Zhou,1– 5 Xiaodu Wang,1– 5 Houhui Song1– 5 1Key Laboratory of Applied Technology on Green-Eco-Healthy Animal Husbandry of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311300, People’s Republic of China; 2Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center for Animal Health Diagnostics & Advanced Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311300, People’s Republic of China; 3Zhejiang International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Veterinary Medicine and Health Management, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311300, People’s Republic of China; 4China-Australia Joint Laboratory for Animal Health Big Data Analytics, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311300, People’s Republic of China; 5College of Animal Science and Technology & College of Veterinary Medicine, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311300, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Houhui Song; Xiaodu Wang, College of Animal Science and Technology & College of Veterinary Medicine, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311300, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 15064890670 ; +86 18806537583, Email songhh@zafu.edu.cn; xdwang@zafu.edu.cnIntroduction: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is a highly prevalent and endemic swine pathogen that causes significant economic losses to the global swine industry. Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) have attracted increasing attention in the biomedical field, given their antiviral effects. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of chitosan-coated SeNPs (CS-SeNPs) on PRRSV replication.Methods: In this study, CS-SeNPs were synthesized by chemical reduction and characterized by assessing the morphology, size distribution, zeta potential, and element composition. Marc-145 cells were infected with r-PRRSV-EGFP (0.1 MOI) and inoculated with CS-SeNPs (10 μM). Subsequently, the concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and glutathione (GSH), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity were measured using specific commercial assay kits. ORF5 RNA expression, viral titer, and nucleocapsid (N) protein expression were assessed using qRT-PCR, TCID50, and Western blot. ROS generation, apoptosis rates, and JNK /caspase-3/PARP protein expression were evaluated using dihydroethidium staining, flow cytometry, and Western blot.Results: The results showed that CS-SeNPs treatment significantly suppressed oxidative stress induced by r-PRRSV-EGFP infection by increasing GSH-Px activity, promoting GSH production, and inhibiting H2O2 synthesis. CS-SeNPs treatment significantly inhibited ORF5 gene expression, viral titers, and N protein of r-PRRSV-EGFP at 24 and 48 hours post-infection (hpi) in Marc-145 cells. The increase in apoptosis rates induced by r-PRRSV-EGFP infection was significantly decreased by CS-SeNPs inoculation through inhibiting ROS generation, JNK phosphorylation levels, and cleavage of caspase-3 and PARP mainly at 48 hpi.Conclusion: These results demonstrated that CS-SeNPs suppress PRRSV-induced apoptosis in Marc-145 cells via the ROS/JNK signaling pathway, thereby inhibiting PRRSV replication, which suggested the potential antiviral activity of CS-SeNPs that deserves further investigation for clinical applications.Keywords: chitosan-coated selenium nanoparticles, PRRSV, apoptosis, ROS, JNK signaling pathways