Souza, Adriana OliveiraOliveira, Johny Wysllas de FreitasMoreno, Claudia Jéssica Gonsalvesde Medeiros, Mayra Jane CamposFernandes-Negreiros, Marília MedeirosSouza, Flavia Roberta MonteiroPontes, Daniel LimaSilva, Marcelo SousaRocha, Hugo Alexandre Oliveira2023-02-082023-02-082022-06-012079-4991PURE: 50620770PURE UUID: 0f2cc039-2adc-403c-b3b0-3182c23fc81fScopus: 85132116239PubMed: 35745396WOS: 000818321300001http://hdl.handle.net/10362/148883Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-CNPq (n◦ 408369/2016-7), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Programa Ciências do Mar (AUXPE-CIMAR-1956/2014), and Programa Nacional de Cooperação Acadêmica (CAPES/PROCAD). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The brown seaweed Spatoglossum schröederi synthesizes three bioactive fucoidans, the most abundant of which is fucan A. This fucoidan was extracted and its identity was confirmed by chemical analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and agarose gel electrophoresis. Thereafter, silver nanoparticles containing fucan A (AgFuc) were produced using an environmentally friendly synthesis method. AgFuc synthesis was analyzed via UV–vis spectroscopy and FTIR, which confirmed the presence of both silver and fucan A in the AgFuc product. Dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy revealed that the AgFuc particles were ~180.0 nm in size and spherical in shape. DLS further demonstrated that AgFuc was stable for five months. Coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry showed that the AgFuc particles contained 5% silver and 95% sugar. AgFuc was shown to be more effective in inhibiting the ability of parasites to reduce MTT than fucan A or silver, regardless of treatment time. In addition, AgFuc induced the death of ~60% of parasites by necrosis and ~17% by apoptosis. Therefore, AgFuc induces damage to the parasites’ mitochondria, which suggests that it is an anti-Trypanosoma cruzi agent. This is the first study to analyze silver nanoparticles containing fucan as an anti-Trypanosoma cruzi agent. Our data indicate that AgFuc nanoparticles have potential therapeutic applications, which should be determined via preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies.3059995enganti-Trypanosoma cruzi activitybrown seaweedchagas diseasefucoidanRA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive MedicineRM Therapeutics. PharmacologyQD ChemistryGeneral Chemical EngineeringGeneral Materials ScienceParasitologySDG 3 - Good Health and Well-beingSDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and InfrastructureSDG 7 - Affordable and Clean EnergySDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communitiesjournal article10.3390/nano12122059https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85132116239