Anticancer activity of pure and silver doped copper oxide nanoparticles against A549 Cell line

Abstract

In day-to-day life, green synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles has still now achieved excellent heed in the field of anticancer activity. In this present study, Moringa oleifera leaf extract functions as reducing, capping, and stabilizing agents for the preparation of pure and silver doped copper oxide nanoparticles of various (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) concentrations. The synthesized materials were subjected to various characterization techniques. XRD, reveals that nanoparticles are in the monoclinic phase and the mean crystallite size for pure and Ag-doped CuO nanoparticles of various concentrations is found to be in the range of 15.22–3.67 nm. SEM images show that nanoparticles are relieved from particle size enlargement and EDAX analysis confirmed the existence of elements like Cu, O, and Ag. The biomolecules present in the leaf extract that helps for the bio-reduction of CuO nanoparticles were identified by FT-IR spectrometer. From UV–vis absorption spectra, peaks from 210 to 240 nm were observed. Furthermore, it also exhibits that if the concentration of silver doping increases there will be an increase in the energy bandgap. By MTT assay, the powerful cytotoxic activity for the synthesized pure and Ag-doped CuO nanoparticles of different concentrations has been probed against human lung cancer A549 cells. Among that, 20% of Ag-doped CuO nanoparticles showed a decrease in cell viability with an IC50 value of 15 µg/mL. After treatment with green synthesized nanoparticles, the cell death was assessed through three types of assessments which include AO/EB dual staining, Hoechst staining, and DCFH-DA staining assays in the cell line. The results betrayed that through apoptosis induction, the tested samples treated against human lung cancer A549 cells showed inhibition in cell proliferation and enhances morphological, and cytological alterations via an increased level of ROS accumulation in the NSCLC cell line.