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Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are typically progressive, chronic and they cause damage to the peripheral nervous system or the central nervous system in some cases. According to the WHO, NDs are one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and the number of people affected by NDs is expected to more than triple in the next 30 years. In most cases, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is the main obstacle to the transport of drugs into the brain while treating neurological illnesses. Many conventional drugs have been used with little improvement in ND patients to mitigate this difficulty. Carbon dots (CDs) has emerged as a promising delivery system and finds wide range of biomedical applications due to their exceptional properties like biocompatibility, capacity to penetrate BBB (as having small size, less than 10nm), photoluminescence, photostability, and ease of use. Here, CDs were prepared using a leaf extract of Shorea robusta under microwave-assisted method. The prepared CDs exhibited blue fluorescence under UV light (365 nm). While the optical absorption peak of CDs was found in the UV region with their maximum absorption occurring at 274 nm. The FTIR spectra showed broad peaks at 3309 cm-1, 2885 cm-1, and 1604 cm-1 corresponding to O-H stretching, C-H stretching and C= C stretching respectively. The surface charge of CDs was determined by the zeta potential to be -11 mV. Fluorescent CDs can be used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes after appropriate conjugation.
Keywords: Neurogenerative disease, BBB, Carbon dots, Photoluminescence