Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles by Using Green Machinery: Characterization and In Vitro Toxicity

Abstract

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.

Formulation, characterization, and cellular toxicity assessment of tamoxifen-loaded silk fibroin nanoparticles in breast cancer

“…FTIR spectra of pure TC, SF, physical mixture of TC + SF and TC-loaded SF-NPs were presented in Figure 3(A) . The FTIR spectra of SF exhibits typical peaks of crystalline β-sheet at 1539 cm −1 (amide II), 1623 cm −1 (amide-I), and 1231 cm −1 (amide-III), demonstrating that SF was in its stable conformation (Al Saqr et al, 2021a , b ). FTIR spectrum of TC shows characteristic absorption peaks at 3094 cm −1 (N–H stretching), at 1723 cm −1 (C=O stretching), at 1594 cm −1 (N– bend), and at 1050 cm −1 (C–N stretch).…”

“…Particle size and zeta potential of the prepared TC-SF-NPs were determined in triplicate using Malvern Zetasizer (Neon Series –ZS90, UK) at an angle of 90° at 25 °C (Al Saqr et al, 2021a ,b ).…”

“…Data collection and analysis is done with CellQuest Pro software version 6.0 (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA). The results are expressed as the rate of apoptosis (the percentage of early + late apoptotic cells) (Al Saqr et al, 2021a , b ).…”

“…Recently, polymeric drug delivery systems have gained increased attention as an effective alternative to conventional formulations. They offer a mean of providing a reservoir to the active pharmaceutical ingredients, improving their physicochemical properties, and circumventing some of the major obstacles faced in drug delivery, such as biocompatibility, intracellular delivery, and targeting specificity in order to ensure the therapeutic efficacy and improving patients’ quality of life (Al Saqr et al, 2021a,b ; Vishwa et al, 2021 ; Luo et al, 2019 ). An ideal drug delivery system should stabilize the entrapped drug, offer tunable release kinetics, and mitigate the undesirable side effects via ensuring site-specific targeting, particularly in the case of highly toxic drugs, such as anticancer drugs.…”

Not Only Antimicrobial: Metronidazole Mitigates the Virulence of Proteus mirabilis Isolated from Macerated Diabetic Foot Ulcer

“…In such aggressive bacterial infections as those in diabetic foot ulcers, it is essential to invent new strategies to guarantee an effective treatment by antibiotics. One of these strategies is crippling bacterial virulence and targeting its QS [15][16][17][18]. Without affecting the bacterial growth, this strategy decreases the possibility of the bacterial resistance development [19][20][21].…”