Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Oct 15;13(10):1240.
doi: 10.3390/antiox13101240.

Highly Water-Dispersed Natural Fullerenes Coated with Pluronic Polymers as Novel Nanoantioxidants for Enhanced Antioxidant Activity

Hyeryeon Oh  1   2 , Jin Sil Lee  1   2 , Panmo Son  1   3 , Jooyoung Sim  1 , Min Hee Park  1 , Young Eun Bang  4 , Daekyung Sung  1 , Jong-Min Lim  4   5 , Won Il Choi  1
Affiliations

Highly Water-Dispersed Natural Fullerenes Coated with Pluronic Polymers as Novel Nanoantioxidants for Enhanced Antioxidant Activity

Hyeryeon Oh et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

Fullerene is a cosmic material with a buckyball-like structure comprising 60 carbon atoms. It has attracted significant interest because of its outstanding antioxidant, antiviral, and antibacterial properties. Natural fullerene (NC60) in shungite meets the demand of biomedical fields to scavenge reactive oxygen species in many diseases. However, its hydrophobicity and poor solubility in water hinder its use as an antioxidant. In this study, highly water-dispersed and stable Pluronic-coated natural fullerene nanoaggregates (NC60/Plu) were prepared from various Pluronic polymers. The water dispersity and stability of NC60 were compared and optimized based on the characteristics of Pluronic polymers including F68, F127, L35, P123, and L81. In particular, NC60 coated with Pluronic F127 at a weight ratio of 1 to 5 showed excellent antioxidant effects both in situ and in vitro. This suggests that the high solubilization of NC60 in Pluronic polymers increases its chance of interacting with reactive oxygen radicals and improves radical scavenging activity. Thus, the optimized NC60/PF127 may be a novel biocompatible antioxidant for treating various diseases associated with oxidative stress.

Keywords: Pluronic; ROS scavenging; antioxidant; colloidal stability; fullerene.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic of the preparation and antioxidant activity demonstration of water-dispersible natural fullerene nanoaggregates using Pluronic polymers (NC60/Plu).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Characterization of natural fullerene (NC60) and Pluronic-coated NC60 nanoaggregates (NC60/Plu) with different hydrophile–lipophile balance values. (A) Photographs, (B) ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorption spectra, (C) hydrodynamic diameters, (D) polydispersity indexes (PDI), (E) zeta potentials of NC60 and NC60/Plu.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Characterization of natural fullerene (NC60) and Pluronic F127-coated NC60 nanoaggregates (NC60/PF127) at different polymer weight ratios (NC60:PF127 = 1:0, 1:1, 1:5, 1:10, and 1:20). (A) Photographs, (B) UV–Vis absorption spectra, (C) hydrodynamic diameters, (D) polydispersity indexes (PDI), (E) zeta potentials of NC60 and NC60/PF127 at different polymer weight ratios.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Stability analysis of natural fullerene (NC60) and Pluronic F127-coated NC60 nanoaggregates (NC60/PF127) at the polymer weight ratio of 1:5 in water at 25 °C. (A) Hydrodynamic diameters, (B) polydispersity indexes (PDIs), (C) photographs after 4 weeks of storage at 25 °C. ▲ denotes partial aggregation of the nanoaggregates. Characterization of NC60/PF127 after lyophilization (FD). (D) Photographs of powder (left) and aqueous dispersion of NC60/PF127 (right). (E) Hydrodynamic diameters and (F) PDIs of NC60/PF127 before and after FD.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(A) In situ antioxidant activity of ascorbic acid (AA), fullerene (C60), natural fullerene (NC60), and Pluronic F127-coated NC60 nanoaggregates (NC60/PF127) via beta-carotene assay. In vitro cytotoxicity and antioxidant activity of Pluronic F127-coated NC60 (NC60/PF127) in CCK-8 and H2DCFDA assay. (B) Cell viability and (C) intracellular ROS level after treatment with NC60/PF127 (1:5). Negative control (Neg) and positive control (Pos) groups indicate the lowest and highest ROS levels, respectively (* p < 0.05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Bosi S., Da Ros T., Spalluto G., Prato M. Fullerene derivatives: An attractive tool for biological applications. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2003;38:913–923. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2003.09.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Prato M. [60] Fullerene chemistry for materials science applications. J. Mater. Chem. 1997;7:1097–1109. doi: 10.1039/a700080d. - DOI
    1. Montellano A., Da Ros T., Bianco A., Prato M. Fullerene C60 as a multifunctional system for drug and gene delivery. Nanoscale. 2011;3:4035–4041. doi: 10.1039/c1nr10783f. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brabec C.J., Gowrisanker S., Halls J.J.M., Laird D., Jia S.J., Williams S.P. Polymer-fullerene bulk-heterojunction solar cells. Adv. Mater. 2010;22:3839–3856. doi: 10.1002/adma.200903697. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yakuphanoglu F. Photovoltaic properties of the organic-inorganic photodiode based on polymer and fullerene blend for optical sensors. Sens. Actuator A. 2008;141:383–389. doi: 10.1016/j.sna.2007.10.023. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources