Interaction of betacoronavirus and S. aureus with boron nitride nanoparticles (BNNPs)

Abstract

Investigations on the advanced effects of boron-containing compounds have gained attention in the last decade. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of hexagonal boron nitride nanoparticles (BNNPs) on Bovine Coronavirus (BCoV) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) by different methods. First, the biological effects of different BNNPs concentrations lower than 0.5 mg/mL were examined on HRT-18 (Human Rectal Tumor) for 5 days. Different concentrations of hBN were mixed with BCoV in liquid, on a membrane, or directly on cells and examined for differences in titers or replications. Moreover, Bacterial Filtration Efficiency (BFE) test of hBN powders coated on polypropylene fabric by spray method was applied against S. aureus. The compound was found slightly toxic on the HRT-18 cell line by live cell counting, while no remarkable morphological difference was observed. BNNPs treatment with 0.025 or 0.3 mg/mL concentrations did not reduce the infective titer and created no inhibitory effect on in vitro replication. The stability of the virus titer after treatment of BNNPs coated fabric also indicated no antiviral efficiency. But hBN-applied fabric formed a barrier of ≥90.3%, while non hBN-applied fabric formed a≥64.6% barrier for S. aureus. The present study demonstrates that BNNPs alone are not a good candidate for disinfectant or drug for BCoVs, while it could be valuable to use as coated fabric in areas needing easy sanitation, especially for S. aureus.