Phytobiological Facilitated Production of Silver Nanoparticles from Selected Non-Cultivated Vegetables in Nigeria and Their Biological Potential

Abstract

Plant-mediated synthesis (Silver (Ag) to form nanoparticles) is progressively becoming well accepted in many scientific and pharmaceutical fields. This study is aimed at synthesizing Ag nanoparticles using air-dried leaves of four (4) neglected vegetables i.e. Cerathoteca sesamoides, Ceiba pentandra, Crassocephalum crepidioides, Launaea taraxacifolia. Ultravioletvisible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for characterization. Cell Stabilization Membrane (CSM) and lipoxidase assays, DPPH and ABTS+ assays were used to assess the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of these AgNPs. L. taraxacifolia Ag nanoparticles (LT-AgNPs), C. sesamoides Ag nanoparticles (CS-AgNPs), C. pendandra Ag nanoparticles (CP-AgNPs) and C. crepidioides Ag nanoparticles (CC-AgNPs), were noticed through visual color change. The UV-Vis spectra of the synthesized nanoparticles displayed absorption bands at around 360-440 nm, which is a characteristic band for Ag nanoparticles. The SEM image of the AgNPs formed displayed were spherical in morphology. CC-AgNPs exhibited the most significant inhibitory activity against HRBC (IC50: 32.2) while CS-AgNPs displayed the most significant inhibitory activity against lipoxygenases (IC50: 32.8). CP-AgNPs exhibited the most significant antioxidant effect against both ABTS and DPPH (IC50: 5.5 and 6.4) when compared to ascorbic acid (IC50: 4.7 µg/mL).