{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]],"date-time":"2026-10-20T17:01:08Z","timestamp":1792515668975,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,3]],"date-time":"2022-01-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1641168000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Pterygium is a progressive disease of the human eye arising from sub-conjunctival tissue and extending onto the cornea. Due to its invasive growth, pterygium can reach the pupil compromising visual function. Currently available medical treatments have limited success in suppressing efficiently the disease. Previous studies have demonstrated that curcumin, polyphenol isolated from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, induces apoptosis of human pterygium fibroblasts in a dose- and time-dependent manner showing promising activity in the treatment of this ophthalmic disease. However, this molecule is not very soluble in water in either neutral or acidic pH and is only slightly more soluble in alkaline conditions, while its dissolving in organic solvents drastically reduces its potential use for biomedical applications. A nanoformulation of curcumin stabilized silver nanoparticles (Cur-AgNPs) seems an effective strategy to increase the bioavailability of curcumin without inducing toxic effects. In fact, silver nitrates have been used safely for the treatment of many ophthalmic conditions and diseases for a long time and the concentration of AgNPs in this formulation is quite low. The synthesis of this new compound was achieved through a modified Bettini\u2019s method adapted to improve the quality of the product intended for human use. Indeed, the pH of the reaction was changed to 9, the temperature of the reaction was increased from 90 \u00b0C to 100 \u00b0C and after the synthesis the Cur-AgNPs were dispersed in Borax buffer using a dialysis step to improve the biocompatibility of the formulation. This new compound will be able to deliver both components (curcumin and silver) at the same time to the affected tissue, representing an alternative and a more sophisticated strategy for the treatment of human pterygium. Further in vitro and in vivo assays will be required to validate this formulation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules27010282","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,7]],"date-time":"2022-01-07T03:46:27Z","timestamp":1641527187000},"page":"282","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":31,"title":["Development and Characterization of Curcumin-Silver Nanoparticles as a Promising Formulation to Test on Human Pterygium-Derived Keratinocytes"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Gianmarco","family":"Stati","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine and Ageing Sciences, G. d\u2019Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini, 31, 66100 Chieti, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6135-6615","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesco","family":"Rossi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UCL Healthcare Biomagnetic & Nanomaterials Laboratories, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS, UK"},{"name":"Biophysics Group, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK"},{"name":"Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca\u2019 Foscari University, Via Torino, 155\/b, 30170 Venice, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thithawat","family":"Trakoolwilaiwan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UCL Healthcare Biomagnetic & Nanomaterials Laboratories, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS, UK"},{"name":"Biophysics Group, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK"},{"name":"Healthy Infrastructure Research Group, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4395-474X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Le Duc","family":"Tung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UCL Healthcare Biomagnetic & Nanomaterials Laboratories, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS, UK"},{"name":"Biophysics Group, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7187-5128","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefanos","family":"Mourdikoudis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UCL Healthcare Biomagnetic & Nanomaterials Laboratories, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS, UK"},{"name":"Biophysics Group, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK"},{"name":"Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technicka 5, 166 28 Prague, Czech Republic"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4131-5952","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nguy\u1ec5n Thi Kim","family":"Thanh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UCL Healthcare Biomagnetic & Nanomaterials Laboratories, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS, UK"},{"name":"Biophysics Group, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0709-6901","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roberta","family":"Di Pietro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine and Ageing Sciences, G. d\u2019Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini, 31, 66100 Chieti, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"S5","article-title":"Pterygium: Epidemiology prevention and treatment","volume":"30","author":"Singh","year":"2017","journal-title":"Community Eye Health"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1073","DOI":"10.1007\/s10792-016-0358-5","article-title":"Developments and current approaches in the treatment of pterygium","volume":"37","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. 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