silicon and alminoprofen

Silicon quantum dots (Si-QDs) have great potential for biomedical applications, including their use as biological fluorescent markers and carriers for drug delivery systems. Biologically inert Si-QDs are less toxic than conventional cadmium-based QDs, and can modify the surface of the Si-QD with covalent bond. We synthesized water-soluble alminoprofen-conjugated Si-QDs (Ap-Si). Alminoprofen is a non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used as an analgesic for rheumatism. Our results showed that the "silicon drug" is less toxic than the control Si-QD and the original drug. These phenomena indicate that the condensed surface integration of ligand/receptor-type drugs might reduce the adverse interaction between the cells and drug molecules. In addition, the medicinal effect of the Si-QDs (i.e., the inhibition of COX-2 enzyme) was maintained compared to that of the original drug. The same drug effect is related to the integration ratio of original drugs, which might control the binding interaction between COX-2 and the silicon drug. We conclude that drug conjugation with biocompatible Si-QDs is a potential method for functional pharmaceutical drug development.

Topics: Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Arachidonic Acid; Biocatalysis; Cell Survival; Cyclooxygenase 2; Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors; Dinoprost; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Kinetics; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; Propionates; Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Quantum Dots; Silicon; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared