Anticancer Potential of Gold doped ZnO Nanoparticles Fabricated using Root Extract of Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth. against Lung (A549), Melanoma (A375) and Epidermoid (A431) Cancer Cells

Abstract

This study presents a simple, biocompatible and eco-friendly Au-doped ZnO nanoparticles were fabricated by employing root aqueous extract of Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth. root as reducing, stabilizing and capping agent. The nanoparticles were identified by showing characteristic UV-visible wavelength maxima at 361 nm (ZnO NPs) and 569 nm (Au NPs). The nanoparticles possess polycrystalline structure with circular to oval in shape having 34 nm size that contains ~24.74 % and ~52.16 % of Au and Zn content. The FT-IR analysis confirmed the functional groups correspond to terpenoids, flavonoids and phenolics present in aqueous root extract of of Kigelia africana (Lam.) were actively participated in nanoparticles capping. The cytotoxic applicability of fabricated nanoparticles was assessed by performing MTT assay against human lung cancer (A549) cells, melanoma cancer (A375) cells and skin or epidermoid cancer (A431) cells. The nanoparticles were proved to show potential anticancer activity with IC50 concentration of 206.13 µg/mL, 152.73 µg/mL and 295.49 µg/mL against A549, A375 and A431 cell lines respectively. The IC50 concentration of nanoparticles in DPPH assay was noticed as 43.75 µg/mL, whereas 33.95 µg/mL and 81.10 µg/mL respectively noticed for standard and aqueous root extract suggest that the nanoparticles possess potential antioxidant capability. Based on findings, it was suggested that the fabricated Au-doped ZnO NPs were treated as promising biocompatible candidate that can having remarkable applicability in therapeutic applications.