THE CERIUM OXIDE GENERATED RADICAL ELIMINATION PROPERTIES OF PEG-NANOCERIA

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been linked to cellular degeneration, irreversible DNA damage, and various diseases. Cerium oxide nanoparticles have shown promising medical applications for their SOD mimetic activity to catalyze the breakdown of various ROS. Increasing the biocompatibility, longevity of residence, and rate of internalization of nanoceria are essential to increase its range of biomedical applications. Polyethylene glycol’s (PEG) hydrophilic, nonimmunogenic, and antioxidative properties make it an ideal coating for increasing cerium nanoparticle’s applicability. Gelatin’s low cost and versatility have made it widely employed as an antioxidant drug carrier in a variety of physiological systems. Because of gelatin’s susceptibility to ROS denaturation and well-researched structure, it is a useful tool for assessing conformational damage in applications that involve acute oxidative stress. PEG-nanoceria of various molar weights was synthesized from Ce (III) nitrate and incorporated into gelatin hydrogels that were exposed to hydrogen peroxide to provide oxidative stress damage. This study aims to assess changes to gelatin conformation were assessed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. PEGNanoceria showed radical damage mitigation in hydrogels as evident by the decreased change in transmittance over its nonPEG counterpart. There was notably exceptional damage mitigation in the amide A and amide II regions. These promising findings suggest more research should be done to examine polymer-coated nanoceria’s antioxidative properties in more biologically relevant models.