Nanopartículas de ZNO dopadas com ouro e conjugadas com N-acetilcisteína como nanocarreadores em modelo de drosophila Melanogaster com alzheimer

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly, is widely used as a model organism in neurobiological research due to its similarities to humans in synaptic processes and mechanisms of cell death. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative condition that causes progressive cognitive impairments, highlighting the urgent need for new therapeutic approaches. In this context, nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as promising tools in biomedicine, offering effective methods for drug delivery and biomarker detection. This study evaluated the toxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles doped with gold (ZnO:Au) and adsorbed with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) (ZnO:Au@NAC), investigating their biocompatibility in D. melanogaster strains, including a strain associated with AD. Animals from different strains were exposed to final NP concentrations of 0.00–0.5 mg/ml added to the standard culture medium. The results showed that ZnO:Au or ZnO:Au@NAC nanoparticles with NAC adsorption significantly reduced lethality and improved larval development, pupation, and emergence rates compared to pure zinc oxide (ZnO). Furthermore, the study revealed that these NPs had a significant impact on the motor performance of D. melanogaster, with data suggesting that prolonged exposure to nanoparticles may have contributed to motor deficits associated with neurodegeneration. However, the lack of a direct comparison with ZnO:Au prevents definitive conclusions about the isolated effect of NAC. These findings highlight the complexity of interactions between nanoparticles and the neuromuscular system, emphasizing the need for additional studies to optimize their composition. Overall, the nanoparticles demonstrated therapeutic potential as a promising strategy for developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, provided their properties are further refined and validated in future studies.