Modulation of bovine serum albumin aggregation by glutathione functionalized MoS2 quantum dots.

In present study, a novel glutathione functionalized MoS2 quantum dots (GSH-MoS2 QDs) was synthesized from sodium molybdate dehydrate and glutathione by using a one-pot hydrothermal method. After they were characterized, the influence of GSH-MoS2 QDs on amyloid aggregation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated by various analytical methods including thioflavin T fluorescence assay, circular dichroism and transmission electron microscope. Moreover, the effect of GSH-MoS2 QDs on cytotoxicity induced by BSA amyloid fibrils and cell penetration were evaluated by MTT assay and confocal fluorescence imaging, respectively. The results indicated that the GSH-MoS2 QDs not only had good water solubility, excellent biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity, but also could obviously inhibit the aggregation of BSA and depolymerize the formed BSA aggregates. The data obtained from this work demonstrated that the GSH-MoS2 QDs is expected to become a candidate drug for the treatment of amyloid-related diseases.

Cysteamine functionalized MoS2 quantum dots inhibit amyloid aggregation.

In this study, cysteamine-functionalized molybdenum disulfide quantum dots (MoS2 QDs) were synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method. A range of techniques including of Thioflavin T and 8-Anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid fluorescence assays, circular dichroism, and transmission electron microscope have been employed to determination the efficacy of MoS2 QDs on the inhibition/reversion of fibrillation and hindering cytotoxicity induced by protofibrils and amyloid fibrils of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Results demonstrated that MoS2 QDs could effectively inhibit the fibrillogenesis and destabilize preformed fibrils of BSA in a concentration-dependent manner. Cytotoxicity protection and imagine on Hela cells was investigated using the methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. It was found that MoS2 QDs not only has good biocompatibility, low toxicity and good cell penetration, but also could effectively decrease the cytotoxicity caused by the formed fibrils of BSA. The results obtained in this work suggested the potential biological application of MoS2 QDs in therapeutics and provided new insight into the design of multifunctional nanomaterials for amyloid-related diseases.