A comprehensive review on biosynthesis of magnesium oxide nanoparticles, and their antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant activities as well as toxicity study

Abstract

• Green synthesized or biogenic MgONPs emerge as promising candidate in the field of biomedical science. • Green synthesis method is safer, reliable, eco-friendly, and cost-effective as compared to other conventional methods. • Biogenic MgONPs can be effectively used as an excellent antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, and antioxidant agents. • This review explores the progress of research on the green synthesis and biomedical applications of MgONPs. Recently, magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgONPs) have received huge interest of researchers due to their remarkable biocompatibility, high stability, and various biomedical applications, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, and antidiabetic activities. Therefore, due to the increasing use of MgONPs in biomedicine there is an urgent need to develop new synthetic strategies for MgONPs. The conventional physical and chemical synthesis methods require highly sophisticated instruments, high temperature, pressure, energy and vacuum conditions as well as various hazardous chemicals. A sustainable and ecofriendly synthesis approach from various biological sources using plants and micro-organisms for fabricating nanoparticles (NPs) is an emerging trend nowadays to replace those conventional methodologies. From the literature, we observed that there is no review article on MgONPs which provides complete information about their green synthesis methods, biomedical applications with detailed mechanism as well as toxicity study. Therefore, in the present review article, we are aiming to provide all these aspects which will be helpful to the readers for understanding the different green synthesis routes of MgONPs for various biological applications with minimal toxicity. Therefore; herein, at first we discussed about several plant- and microorganisms-mediated green synthesis of MgONPs in detail. Later on, we discussed the remarkable biomedical applications of MgONPs along with their possible mechanisms of action. Besides, the toxicity profile of green synthesized MgONPs has also been summarized. Lastly, we have highlighted some of the challenges and future prospects to further explore the use of biogenic MgONPs in the biomedical field. Based on the existing literature reports we have observed that these green-synthesized MgONPs are mostly biocompatible in nature and exhibit significant antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer and antioxidant applications. Hence, the outcome of this review article will enrich the understanding of the readers about the recent trends to synthesize MgONPs via various biological entities and their potential biomedical applications.