Membranes with turmeric pigment and silver nanoparticles will protect against viruses

An international team of scientists has created a material capable of inhibiting the activity of viruses. For this purpose, the authors applied silver nanoparticles combined with curcumin to a polymer filtration membrane with large pores. The development can be used, for example, to filter water from bacteria and viruses to make it suitable for drinking, or as a barrier material in medicine.

Scientists from the Center for Applied Physics of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions named after G.N. Flerov in Dubna with colleagues from Armenia and South Africa found that if the membrane with pores, whose diameter is larger than the size of viruses, to apply substances with the necessary biochemical properties, passing through it viruses are inhibited, that is, lose the ability to penetrate the cell, binding to cell receptors. After this, the virus can not multiply and capture new cells, and therefore becomes safe for humans.

To this end, the authors fixed dosed amounts of silver and curcumin nanoparticles on the membrane surface. They were chosen on the basis of earlier studies that showed that these substances inhibit the activity of viruses of various nature, including the herpes virus. In addition, curcumin has an antibacterial effect and is therefore often included in some anti-inflammatory drugs.

A solution containing virus particles was then passed through a track membrane modified with a complex of silver nanoparticles and curcumin using a syringe.

"Such decontamination membranes can be used in water purification plants. In personalized medicine it is possible to use them as an effective covering material for wounds and burns: viruses and bacteria will not get on the affected and thus more vulnerable areas of the skin," - told "Izvestia" the main executor of the project supported by a grant from the Russian National Foundation, PhD in chemistry, deputy head of the Center for Applied Physics of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions named after G.N. Flerov JINR Alexander Nechaev.

Scientists conducted several series of experiments on different viruses: herpes, stomatitis, influenza and encephalomyocarditis.

Read more in the exclusive material "Izvestia":

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