The pandemic outbreak of
COVID-19 in the year of 2020 that drastically changed everyone's life has raised the urgent and intense need for the development of more efficacious
antiviral material. This study was designed to develop
copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs) as an
antiviral agent and to validate the
antiviral activities of developed
copper NP. The Cu NPs were synthesized using a high energy electron beam, and the characteristic morphologies and
antiviral activities of Cu NPs were evaluated. We found that Cu NPs are of spherical shape and uniformly distributed, with a diameter of around 100 nm, as opposed to the irregular shape of commercially available
copper microparticles (Cu MPs). An X-ray diffraction analysis showed the presence of Cu and no
copper oxide II and I in the Cu NPs. A virus inactivation assay revealed no visible
viral DNA after 10- and 30-min treatment of H1N1 virus with the Cu NPs. The infectivity of the Cu NPs-treated H1N1 virus significantly decreased compared with that of the Cu MPs-treated H1N1 virus. The viability of A549 bronchial and Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cells infected with Cu NPs-treated H1N1 was significantly higher than those infected with Cu MPs-treated H1N1 virus. We also found cells infected with Cu NPs-treated H1N1 virus exhibited a markedly decreased presence of virus
nucleoprotein (NuP), an influenza virus-specific structural
protein, compared with cells infected with Cu MPs-treated H1N1 virus. Taken together, our study shows that Cu NPs are a more effective and efficacious
antiviral agent compared with Cu MPs and offer promising opportunities for the prevention of devastatingly
infectious diseases.