Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with plant extracts has gained considerable interest in the field of biomedicine. Recently, the bioreduction nature of herbal extracts has helped to synthesize spherical GNPs of different potential from gold salt. In this study, a fast ecofriendly method was adopted for the synthesis of GNPs using fresh peel (aqueous) extracts of Benincasa hispida, which acted as reducing and stabilizing agents. The biosynthesized GNPs were characterized by UV–VIS and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic light scattering. In addition, the in vitro antibacterial and anticancer activities of synthesized GNPs were investigated. The formation of gold nanoparticles was confirmed by the existence of a sharp absorption peak at 520 nm, corresponding to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band of the GNPs. TEM analysis revealed that the prepared GNPs were spherical in shape and had an average particle size of 22.18 ± 2 nm. Most importantly, the synthesized GNPs exhibited considerable antibacterial activity against different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, the biosynthesized GNPs exerted remarkable in vitro cytotoxicity against human cervical cancer cell line, while sparing normal human primary osteoblast cells. Such cytotoxic effect was attributed to the increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that contributed to the damage of HeLa cells. Collectively, peel extracts of B. hispida can be efficiently used for the synthesis of GNPs, which can be adopted as a natural source of antimicrobial and anticancer agent.

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The purpose of this study was to fabricate biostable inorganic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using fresh peel (aqueous) extract of Benincasa hispida. A fast, robust, and eco-friendly approach was used for the synthesis of AgNPs, where bioactive components of peel extract of B. hispida acted as reducing and stabilizing agents. Synthesized AgNPs were characterized using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and electron microscopy. The synthesized nanoparticles exhibited maximum absorption at 418 nm under the typical AgNPs surface plasmon resonance band range. They depicted a mean size of 26 ± 2 nm with a spherical shape. Their therapeutic prospective was determined by evaluating their antimicrobial and anticancer potential. The bio-synthesized silver nanoparticles exhibited strong antimicrobial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC 50) values of 14.5, 8.6, 6.063, and 13.4 μg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Micrococcus luteus (ATCC 14593), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), and Klebsiella pneumonia (ATCC 13883), respectively. The biosynthesized AgNPs showed potent in vitro cytotoxicity against human cervical cancer cell line with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 0.066 μg/mL; however, no cytotoxic effect was observed on normal human primary osteoblasts cell line. This study explored B. hispida extract and confirmed its effectiveness as a promising source in producing AgNPs that could be employed for several therapeutic applications.

Ceftriaxone has been a part of therapeutic regime for combating some of the most aggressive bacterial infections in the last few decades. However, increasing bacterial resistance towards ceftriaxone and other third generation cephalosporin antibiotics has raised serious clinical concerns especially due to their misuse in the COVID-19 era. Advancement in nanotechnology has converted nano-therapeutic vision into a plausible reality with better targeting and reduced drug consumption. Thus, in the present study, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were synthesized by using ceftriaxone antibiotic that acts as a reducing as well as capping agent. Ceftriaxone-loaded GNPs (CGNPs) were initially characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, DLS, Zeta potential, Electron microscopy and FT-IR. However, a TEM micrograph showed a uniform size of 21 ± 1 nm for the synthesized CGNPs. Further, both (CGNPs) and pure ceftriaxone were examined for their efficacy against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella abony and Klebsiella pneumoniae. CGNPs showed MIC50 as 1.39, 1.6, 1.1 and 0.9 µg/mL against E. coli, S. aureus, S. abony and K. pneumoniae, respectively. Interestingly, CGNPs showed two times better efficacy when compared with pure ceftriaxone against the tested bacterial strains. Restoring the potential of unresponsive or less efficient ceftriaxone via gold nanoformulations is the most alluring concept of the whole study. Moreover, applicability of the findings from bench to bedside needs further validation.

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