Green Synthesis of Small Silver Nanoparticles Using Geraniol and Its Cytotoxicity against Fibrosarcoma-Wehi 164.

Many reports have been published about the biogenesis of silver nanoparticles using several plant extracts such as Pelargonium graveolens (P.graveolens- geranium) and Azadirachta indica (neem) but the capacity of their natural reducing constituents to form silver nanoparticles has not yet been studied. In this research the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using geraniol has been investigated. We successfully synthesized uniformly dispersed silver nanoparticles with a uniform size and shape in the range of 1 to 10 nm with an average size of 6 nm. Also the cytotoxicity of the prepared silver nanoparticles was investigated using a cancer cell line (Fibrosarcoma-Wehi 164). The cytotoxicity analysis of the sample shows a direct dose-response relationship; cytotoxicity increased at higher concentrations. At concentration of 1 µg/ml, silver nanoparticles was able to inhibit the cell line's growth by less than 30%. Conversly, the presence of 5 µg/ml of silver nanoparticlse significantly inhibited the cell line's growth (>60%). The concentration necessary to produce 50% cell death was 2.6 µg/ml for this silver nanoparticles preapared with geraniol.