RETRACTED ARTICLE: Comparative study of the antioxidant, toxicity, anti-inflammatory, and wound healing activities of both Digenea simplex polysaccharides and their corresponding (ZnO–Au) bimetallic nanoparticles

Abstract

The development of green nanoparticle synthesis has multiple benefits over conventional physico-chemical techniques and provides a wide range of medical and biological applications. This study aims to synthesize zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), and bimetallic nanoparticles (BMNPs) from red algae Digenea simplex (D. simplex) polysaccharides and evaluate their antioxidant, toxicity, anti-inflammatory, and wound healing properties. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis was used to analyze D. simplex polysaccharides (PS). The NPs were characterized by using UV–visible (UV–vis), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). ZnONPs showed rods and hexagonal shapes with particle sizes of 5–40 nm, AuNPs showed a spherical shape with particle sizes of 10–15 nm, and Zn-AuNPs showed a spherical shape with particle sizes of 10–40 nm. The scanning electron microscopy confirmed the presence of NPs on the cotton fabric surface in both washed and unwashed samples. The PS, ZnONPs, AuNPs and BMNPs had a good percentage of ABTS (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) and DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity, with inhibition values for ABTS of 157.1, 72.78, 78.46, and 62.81 µg/ml, and for DPPH of 364.1, 105.0, 129.9, 76.07 µg/ml respectively. The anti-inflammatory properties of BMNPs of 85.44% and ZnONPs reached 76.58% were greater than those of AuNPs of 71.51% and PS 68.98%. Furthermore, the wound healing study revealed that BMNPs have the maximum percentage reduction of 81.87%, followed by its 10 washes of 76.78%, and reached of 71.60%, 56.36%, and 51.50% for ZnONPs, AuNPs, and PS, respectively.