Encapsulation of Amphotericin B into Quercetin Based Silver Nanoparticles: Preparation, Characterization and Preliminary Investigation of Antiparasitic Activity

Terminalia catappa is a medicinal plant, belongs to the Combretaceae family, enriched with potential bioactive compounds and exhibits broad-spectrum of pharmacological activity. The leaves possess antihepatic, antibacterial, antiparasitic and anti-inflammatory properties. It contains Quercertin, Punicalagin and Punicalin as major compounds having strong antioxidant activities and being traditionally used to treat many diseases. Amphotericin B (AmB) is a macrolide polyene antifungal drug used to treat the life threatening fungal and parasitic diseases. We prepared nanoformulated drug by using silver nanparticles (AgNPs) and (AmphotericinB) AmB. The prepared nanoformulations were characterized by UV and FTIR. Interactions between AmB with AgNPs are confirmed by their morphological characteristics obtained from SEM images. Antifungal activity of the prepared nanoformulation was tested against the plant fungal pathogen Verticillium dahlia, which has confirmed its potential antifungal property. Interestingly, anti-promastigote activity of the nanoformualtion (500-1.9 μg/ml) was identified against L. donovani parasites. Preliminary investigation on the results has suggested that these nanoformulation exhibits potent antifungal and antiparasitic activities compared with the standard AmB.