Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles by Using Green Machinery: Characterization and In Vitro Toxicity.

Ahmed Al Saqr,Saad M Alshahrani,Ahmed Alalaiwe,El-Sayed Khafagy,Salman Khan,Mohammed F Aldawsari,Md Khalid Anwer,Hany H Arab,Amr S Abu Lila,Wael A H Hegazy

doi:10.3390/nano11030808

Abstract

Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with plant extracts has gained considerable interest in the field of biomedicine. Recently, the bioreduction nature of herbal extracts has helped to synthesize spherical GNPs of different potential from gold salt. In this study, a fast ecofriendly method was adopted for the synthesis of GNPs using fresh peel (aqueous) extracts of Benincasa hispida, which acted as reducing and stabilizing agents. The biosynthesized GNPs were characterized by UV–VIS and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic light scattering. In addition, the in vitro antibacterial and anticancer activities of synthesized GNPs were investigated. The formation of gold nanoparticles was confirmed by the existence of a sharp absorption peak at 520 nm, corresponding to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band of the GNPs. TEM analysis revealed that the prepared GNPs were spherical in shape and had an average particle size of 22.18 ± 2 nm. Most importantly, the synthesized GNPs exhibited considerable antibacterial activity against different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, the biosynthesized GNPs exerted remarkable in vitro cytotoxicity against human cervical cancer cell line, while sparing normal human primary osteoblast cells. Such cytotoxic effect was attributed to the increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that contributed to the damage of HeLa cells. Collectively, peel extracts of B. hispida can be efficiently used for the synthesis of GNPs, which can be adopted as a natural source of antimicrobial and anticancer agent.

Highlights

IntroductionThe increasing antimicrobial resistance has become one of the major public health challenges especially in the era of decreased discovery of new safe antimicrobial agents [1,2]
We found that gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were efficiently accumulated in cancer cells’ nuclei and increased the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can induce considerable anticancer activity
We report a simple one-step ecofriendly method for the synthesis of GNPs using B. hispida peel extract as a reducing and stabilizing agent

Summary

Introduction

The increasing antimicrobial resistance has become one of the major public health challenges especially in the era of decreased discovery of new safe antimicrobial agents [1,2]. Several approaches have been exploited to renew the available antimicrobial chemotherapeutic options [3,4,5]. Nanotechnology holds promise as an emerging technology for developing new antimicrobial agents with expanding properties such as efficient targeting, improvement of pharmacokinetic profile, and reduction of toxicity [5,6]. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are emerging materials that exhibit optical and electrical characteristics distinct from those of traditional materials and show promising potential for Nanomaterials 2021, 11, 808.

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