CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata 700 032, India
Sushama Biswas
CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India
Noufal Kandoth
Department of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata 741246, India
Deepak Tayde
CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
Abhishek Chatterjee
CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata 700 032, India
Samit Chattopadhyay
BITS Pilani K K Birla Goa Campus, NH 17B, Bypass, Road, Zuarinagar, Sancoale, Goa 403726, India; Corresponding author
Amitava Das
Department of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata 741246, India; Corresponding author
Snehasikta Swarnakar
CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata 700 032, India; Corresponding author
Sumit Kumar Pramanik
CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India; Corresponding author
Summary: The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is one of the major sites for reactive oxygen species generation (ROS). Physiological ROS, lower than the threshold concentration, is beneficial for human physiology to preserve gut functional integrity. However, ROS generated in large quantities in presence of external stimuli overwhelms the cellular antioxidant defense mechanism and results in oxidative damage and associated physiological disorder. Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are a class of carbon-based nanomaterials that have attracted tremendous attention not only for their tunable optical properties but also for their broad-spectrum antioxidant properties. In this report we have shown that GQDs are highly efficient in scavenging ROS and suppressing stress-induced gastric ulcers by targeting the MMP-9 pathway and reducing the inflammatory burden by suppressing excessive oxidative stress by inducing high caspase activity, overproduction of Bax, and downregulation of BCL2.
