Abstract
The effective prevention and treatment of malaria still represent a major public health challenge. Here, the solution combustion method was used for the synthesis of hierarchically structured V2O5 nanoflakes. The toxicity of V2O5 nanoflakes was evaluated on the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi and on the malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and P. berghei, relying to in vitro and in vivo assays. V2O5 nanoflakes were examined by various techniques, including powder X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (XRD), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). LC50 of V2O5 nanoflakes against A. stephensi larvae and pupae were 1.936 ppm (larva I), 3.606 ppm (II), 4.750 ppm (III), 6.636 ppm (IV), and 8.876 ppm (pupae). Furthermore, the antiplasmodial activity of V2O5 nanoflakes was evaluated against chloroquine-resistant (CQ-r) and CQ-sensitive (CQ-s) strains of P. falciparum. IC50 of V2O5 nanoflakes were 84.54 mu g/ml (CQ-s) and 88.17 mu g/ml (CQ-r). In vivo antiplasmodial experiments conducted on P. berghei infecting albino mice showed moderate activity of V2O5 nanoflakes, if compared to chloroquine. Overall, our results highlighted the promising potential of the solution combustion method for the synthesis of hierarchically structured V2O5 nanoflakes, which showed really high efficacy as mosquito larvicides and pupicides.