Phytosynthesis of gold nanoparticles using Mappia foetida leaves extract and their conjugation with folic acid for delivery of doxorubicin to cancer cells

Abstract

Mappia foetida leaves extract is used as bioreductant for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles and their application in the efficient delivery of doxorubicin to human cancer cells is reported here. The formation of gold nanoparticles is evident from their characteristic optical absorption at ~560 nm. X-ray diffraction pattern of gold nanoparticles confirmed their fcc structure. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows the bioactive molecules from plant extract capped on the surface of gold nanoparticles and conjugation of doxorubicin along with activated folic acid as navigational molecules for targeted drug delivery. Such a conjugation of gold nanoparticles is characterized by their weight loss, ~35-40 %, due to thermal degradation of plant biomass and conjugated drug along with receptor, as observed in thermogravimetric analysis. The spherical shaped gold nanoparticles (Φ 10-20 nm) are observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images and the expected elemental composition by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Gold nanoparticles conjugated with activated folic acid and doxorubicin complex is found to be toxic for human cancer cells viz., MDA-MB-231, HeLa, SiHa and Hep-G2. Furthermore, the amount of drug released was maximum at pH 5.3 (an ambient condition for intravenous cancer drugs) followed by pH 7.2 and pH 6.8.

Green Silver and Gold Nanoparticles: Biological Synthesis Approaches and Potentials for Biomedical Applications

“…Yallappa et al utilized AuNPs synthesized by Mappia foetida to examine their applicability in targeted cancer therapy. They described that Doxorubicinloaded AuNPs conjugated with n-hydroxysuccinamide (NHS) activated folic acid (FA) showed low toxicity against Vero normal epithelial cells and high cytotoxic activity against human cancer cells (MDA-MB-231, HeLa, SiHa, Hep-G2) [236].…”

Strongly Emitting Folic Acid-Derived Carbon Nanodots for One- and Two-Photon Imaging of Lyotropic Myelin Figures

“…The structural characteristics of FA CNDs were also explored with 1 H and 13 C NMR; then hydrogen–carbon (heteronuclear single quantum coherence, HSQC NMR) analysis − was performed. The 1 H NMR spectrum of FA CNDs is complex, especially in the upfield region (0–5 ppm), as shown in Figures d and S10.…”