Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles from and Studies on Their Wound Healing, Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Cytotoxic Activity.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have recently gained interest in the medical field because of their biological features. The present study aimed at screening secondary metabolites, quantifying their flavonoids and total phenolics content, green synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles. In addition, an assessment of in vitro cytotoxic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and wound healing activity of and its synthesized AgNPs was carried out. The powdered plant material (leaves) was subjected to Soxhlet extraction to obtain aqueous extract. The extract was used as a reducing agent in synthesizing AgNPs from silver nitrate. The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-Vis, SEM-EDX, XRD, FTIR, particle size analyzer and zeta potential. Further aqueous leaf extract of and AgNPs was subjected for in vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, wound healing and cytotoxic activity against A375 (Skin cancer), A549 (Lung cancer), and KB-3-1 (Oral cancer) cell lines. All experiments were repeated three times ( = 3), and the results were given as the mean ± SEM. The flavonoids and total phenolics content in extract were 44.18 ± 0.086 mg/g of quercetin and 53.24 ± 0.028 mg/g of gallic acid, respectively. SEM analysis revealed AgNPs with diameters ranging from 35 to 100 nm. XRD confirmed that the synthesized silver nanoparticles were crystalline in nature. The cytotoxicity cell viability assay revealed that the AgNPs were less toxic (IC 105.5 µg/mL) compared to the extract (IC 47.47 µg/mL) against the non-cancerous fibroblast L929 cell line. Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxicity tests revealed that AgNPs had significantly more activity than the plant extract. The AgNPs inhibited protein denaturation by a mean percentage of 71.65%, which was equivalent to the standard anti-inflammatory medication diclofenac (94.24%). The AgNPs showed considerable cytotoxic effect, and the percentage of cell viability against skin cancer, lung cancer, and oral cancer cell lines was 31.84%, 56.09% and 22.59%, respectively. AgNPs demonstrated stronger cell migration and percentage of wound closure (82.79%) compared to the plant extract (75.23%). The overall results revealed that AgNPs exhibited potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, and cytotoxic properties. In future, should be further explored to unmask its therapeutic potential and the mechanistic pathways of AgNPs should be studied in detail in in vivo animal models.