Ellagic acid modified by magnesium oxide nanoparticles: characterization and antileishmania activity towards Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes

Full text: Ellagic acid (EA) has bactericide features but low biocompatibility due to poor solubility in water [1]. In this work, EA was modified by MgO NPs, which present good pharmacological features [2]. MgO-EA was prepared in the molar ratio 2: 1 of MgO and ellagic acid, respectively. Structural, crystalline, and supramolecular arrangement of the hybrid nanomaterial were investigated in detail by vibrational (FTIR) and electronic (UV-Vis) spectroscopies, X-ray diffraction (DRX) and image scanning electron microscope (SEM). XRD exhibited clean MgO NPs crystals and changes in EA crystallinity due to MgO NPs presence. UV-Vis spectra showed deprotonation of C₃ and C₈ hydroxyl groups of EA. FTIR exhibited significant changes in C=O, C-O, O-H stretches, indicating the possible sites of interaction. SEM exhibited MgO NPs aggregates and chemical interaction between MgO NPs and EA. CC₅₀ values for MgO NPs (425,85 μg mL^-1) and EA (23,81 μg mL^-1) exhibited reduction on EA cytotoxicity to 38,15 μg mL^-1 on the hybrid nanomaterial. IC50 values exposed reduction on anti leishmania activity for MgO-EA (637,56 μg mL^-1) in comparison with its precursors MgO NPs (80,32 μg mL^-1) and EA (3,64 μg mL^-1), probably caused by strong interaction with the oxide. MgO-EA will be further investigated to increase its features as anti-leishmania material. References [1] SIMIĆ, A. Z. et al. Monatshefte fur Chemie, v. 144, n. 2, p. 121–128, 2013; [2] LI, S. et al.. Materials Letters, v. 171, p. 204-207, 2016. (author)