One-pot biogenic synthesis of gold nanoparticles@saponins niosomes: Sustainable nanomedicine for antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anticancer therapeutics

Abstract

Nanomedicine offers the promise of transforming modern medicine by facilitating precise and targeted therapeutic outcomes while reducing the adverse effects associated with conventional therapies. Nevertheless, the production process of nanomedicine often involves the use of hazardous and costly chemicals, leading to the creation of toxic by-products. This research paper presents a newly-developed, eco-friendly, one pot method of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)@saponins niosomes synthesis by utilizing Sapindus mukorossi pericarps extract as both a reducing agent and stabilizer. The properties of the resulting AuNPs@saponins niosomes were analyzed in terms of composition, chemical structure, and morphology. Antibacterial activity of AuNPs@saponins niosomes was observed at concentrations of 50–100 µg/mL, and showed significant antibacterial effect on Staphylococcus aureus. The synthesized AuNPs@saponins niosomes also demonstrated potential as an anti-inflammatory agent, exhibiting an IC50 of 30.08 µg/mL, and displayed a dose-dependent anticancer effect against various human cancer cell lines up to 100 µg/mL. Among the tested cell lines, AuNPs@saponins niosomes exhibited the most effective cytotoxicity on MCF-7 cancer cells, displaying an IC50 of 54.13 µg/mL. Our results suggest that, this research has the potential to uncover the opportunities in the development of environmentally sustainable one-pot synthesis methods of metallic nanoparticles loaded niosomes, with applications in various fields for antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anticancer therapeutics, offering promising avenues for advancement.