Figure 2.

Schematic drawing of the working hypothesis for the mechanism proposed for the antiviral nanoparticles described in refs. [33] and [24]. Left) A schematic of virustatic effect that is described in the literature for MES‐coated nanoparticles (ref. [33]). Right) The proposed virucidal mechanism (ref. [24]). Images present chemical schemes for the particles (top), molecular dynamics calculation results (middle), and cryo‐transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of herpes simplex virus 2 interacting with the nanoparticles. The main difference between the two types of particles is that while both attach to the virus only the virucidal are able to affect the structural integrity of the virus.