Plant-mediated synthesis of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) using aloe vera and flaxseed extracts and evaluation of their cellular toxicities

Abstract

In this work, the synthesizing procedure of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), which were observed with small ranged sizes, has been successfully performed by an ecological and green methodology. The report includes the synthesis and characterization of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles from iron salts in the aqueous extracts of (Aloe Vera leaves) and (Flaxseed) that had been achieved through a green co-precipitation technique. Although in accordance with the obtained X-ray diffraction (XRD), the composed samples have been pure Fe3O4 that contained a spinel structure, yet there have not been any phase changes in regards to the coating of herbal extracts. As it has been indicated by the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), the ordinary spheres of Fe3O4 particles, coated by herbal extracts, have been regular spheres that measured to be in sizes of about <50 nm and has matched the formula of Debye-Scherrer. Likewise, the herbal coating onto the Fe3O4 NPs has shown segments by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. In addition, the Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) has revealed the superparamagnetic properties of SPIONs. While considering the measured high saturated magnetization of aloe vera/SPIONs (~54 emu/g) and the flaxseed/SPIONs (~51 emu/g), the in vitro cytotoxicity assessments on MCF-7 Breast cancer cell line have reported the observation of a dose-dependent toxicity with low toxic effect in regards to concentrations below 4.7 μg/mL.