Antiviral Activity of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Mediated by Plumbago indica L. Extract Against Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV-1)

Mina Michael Melk,1 Seham S El-Hawary,1 Farouk Rasmy Melek,2 Dalia Osama Saleh,3 Omar M Ali,4 Mohamed A El Raey,5 Nabil Mohamed Selim1 1Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt; 2Chemistry of Natural Compounds Department, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt; 3Pharmacology Department, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt; 4Department of Chemistry, Turabah University College, Turabah Branch, Taif University, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Phytochemistry and Plant Systematics, Pharmaceutical Division, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, EgyptCorrespondence: Nabil Mohamed Selim; Omar M Ali Email nabil.selim@pharma.cu.edu.eg; om.ali@tu.edu.saIntroduction: Plumbago indica L. is considered a valuable source in the Plumbaginaceae family for various types of active compound such as alkaloids, phenolics and saponins. To promote the usage of P. indica in the bionanotechnology field, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) were biosynthesized by using its alcoholic extract. The inhibitory effects of ZnONPs and the plant extract were also evaluated against HSV-1.Methods: ZnONPs were described by the following techniques, UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The phenolic and flavonoid contents of P. indica extract, which are accountable for bioreduction, formation and stabilization of the nanoparticles, were analyzed by HPLC technique. The antiviral assessment was implemented on both agents by using Vero cell lines.Results: DLS revealed that the average size of ZnONPs was 32.58 ± 7.98 nm and the zeta potential was – 20.8 mV. The observation of TEM analysis revealed that the particle size of ZnONPs varied from 2.56 to 8.83 nm. The XRD analysis verified the existence of pure crystals of hexagonal shapes of nanoparticles of ZnO with a main averag