Nanotechnology and malaria: Evaluation of efficacy and toxicity of green nanoparticles

Abstract

Malaria is a global health problem that causes 1.5-2.7 million deaths worldwide each year. Resistance to antimalarial drugs in malaria parasites and to insecticides in vectors is one of the most serious issues in the fight against the disease. Moreover, the lack of an effective vaccine against malaria is still a major concern. Recent developments in nanotechnology have resulted in new prospects for the fight against malaria, especially by obtaining metal nanoparticles (NPs) that are less toxic, highly biocompatible, environmentally friendly, and less expensive. Numerous studies have been conducted on the synthesis of green NPs using plants and microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, algae, actinomycetes, and viruses). To our knowledge, there is no literature review that compares toxicities and antimalarial effects of some existing metallic nanoparticles revealing their advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this review is to assess the metal NPs obtained through various green synthesis processes, to display the worth of future malaria research, and to determine future strategies. The literature review revealed that there are very limited studies on green NPs covering all stages of malaria parasites. Additionally, green metal nanoparticles have yet to be studied for their possible toxic effects on infected as well as healthy erythrocytes. Moreover, the toxicities of green metal NPs obtained from various sources differed according to concentration, size, shape, synthesis method, and surface charge, indicating the necessity of optimizing the methods used in future studies. This work has investigated the effectiveness of green metal nanoparticles synthesized from different sources against malaria, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. It was concluded that studies on the toxic properties of green nanoparticles would be very important for future stages.