Tailoring ZnO nanoparticles for biomedical applications: Surface functionalization of ZnO nanoparticles with 2-oxo-2H-chromene-3-carboxylic acid coupled beta-cyclodextrin for enhanced antimicrobial and anticancer effect

Abstract

Nanomedicine has newly emerged as a superior alternative for the treatment of numerous life-threatening illnesses. Zinc oxide nanomaterials have attracted a lot of attention in this decade because of their enormous potential in a wide range of biomedical applications. This work describes the surface functionalization of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) with 2-oxo-2H-chromene-3-carboxylic acid (3-CCA) coupled beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD) to create a biocompatible system (ZnO-β-CD-3-CCA) and the evaluation of its antimicrobial and anticancer properties. Different characterization techniques, such as X-ray powder diffraction, UV–Vis spectroscopy, FTIR, transmission, and scanning electron microscopy, were used to characterize the biocompatible system. The antimicrobial properties of the synthesized ZnO NPs and the surface functionalized ZnO-β-CD-3-CCA system were evaluated using the disc diffusion method. Modification with functionalized β-CD systems increased the bacteriostatic effect of ZnO nanoparticles against various microbes. In vitro cytotoxicity of ZnO NPs and surface functionalized ZnO-β-CD-3-CCA system was evaluated against two distinct cancer cell lines: MCF-7, Hep G2, and normal rat spleen cells employing MTT assay, and the results highlight that the selective cytotoxicity of the surface functionalized ZnO-β-CD-3-CCA system against the human breast cancer (MCF-7) and human liver cancer (Hep G2) cell lines were superior to that of ZnO NPs. Also, the developed systems were less toxic to normal rat spleen cells. This work is significant because it could result in next-generation nanoparticle-based cancer treatments that are more successful.